Kishin May Cry
by fallenstar2013
Summary: A mysterious group has arrived at Death City, and two legendary Meisters collide! Set after the Soul Eater manga's end, the main cast encounter a person they never expected... and his walking armory! Warning: this crossover includes big egos, two talking heads, a lotta characters and weapons, and an angry pooch! Soul Eater (c) Atsushi Ookubo / Devil May Cry (c) Capcom
1. The Crowd at Deathbuck's

"Where's that coffee Table 1 ordered five minutes ago?"

"Comin' right up, sir!"

A girl with black hair tied into two pigtails staggered nervously while holding a steaming cup all the way to a table where a couple was sitting together, chatting happily. As soon as the coffee was delivered to the customer, who politely thanked the maid for her service, the girl quickly and confidently walked back behind the counter and went to talk to the café's owner.

"Seems like you're finally getting some confidence with that coffee, eh?" said the man with a fatherly smile at his employee.

"Yes, Master," replied the girl happily, "though I'm still a little nervous about spilling it…"

"That's the least of your worries once you can walk normally with it," answered the man, who was looking at another of his employees, who had long blond hair tied into a ponytail and was quickly scribbling her customer's orders into her notepad.

"Well, Anya seems to be better at this than me…" said the girl with a slight tone of admiration toward her coworker. The door opened up and hit a bell that was attached, signaling someone had arrived to Deathbucks Café. The girl, who was named Tsugumi, quickly dismissed herself from her boss by saying "I'll take this one!" and walked to the customer, reciting in a happy tone, "Welcome to Deathbucks Café! Table for how many?"

"Umm," the customer looked behind him and smiled nervously, making Tsugumi take a peek as well. Her jaw dropped.

"I-I'll get a friend to help me put a few tables together…" said the little girl.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," replied the newcomer with a wry grin.

The black-haired girl quickly ran to her boss and said, "Master, I think we need help with this one…"

Master looked at the girl and then at the entrance, which was slowly filling up with the new customer's company. "Oh, my Death…"

Back at Table 1, the sandy-haired girl looked up from her coffee and behind her partner and noticed the troupe that had entered the café and motioned her companion to do the same.

"Well, whaddaya know," said the girl's companion, whose red eyes widened when he saw the crowd. "Looks like the circus finally arrived."

"That's not funny, Soul," said the girl, who quickly adjusted her pigtails to make herself look better, which did not go unnoticed by her white-haired date.

"What, are you trying to impress the guy with the fur coat, the one with the trench coat, or the one with glasses?" asked Soul jokingly while he wiped a drop of drool that was escaping his mouth.

"None," lied the girl with a blush in her cheeks. She then stood up and quickly asked one of the maids to bring her the bill. "By the way, you're paying today."

"I know, Maka," answered the white-haired boy while rolling his red eyes. "We should hurry, though; Kid wanted you to give that lesson in literature with Marie today."

"WHAT?!" the girl named Maka let her jaw fall in surprise. "Why didn't you say so? We gotta go now!"

"I know," chuckled the boy, whose shark teeth glistened in the afternoon light that entered through the café's window, while he paid for the snack. The pair quickly walked out of Deathbuck's after helping some of the maids move some tables to accommodate the group and telling them to enjoy their meal. As soon as they exited, Maka looked at the nearest lamppost casually and noticed the figure of a sleeping dog and pointed it out to her partner.

"That's cute, Maka," replied the boy without even throwing the dog a glance. "Now let's go!"

"R-right!"

Neither of them noticed the light-blue dog had raised a head to look at them flee… and two more that looked at the troupe in Deathbuck's, which was happily chatting while awaiting their meal.

While the pair ran up the stairs that led to Death City's biggest landmark, DWMA, Soul decided to chat his partner up.

"So have you found any good mission yet?" he asked.

"Nope," replied the girl. "Black Star took the last one three days ago, and Ox and Kilik were gonna cooperate for another mission I had my eye on…"

"When's he returning?" asked the white-haired boy.

"I dunno… I hope it's soon…"

"What, are you worried about him?" teased the young man.

"Of course I'm worried, he's my friend!" replied the girl, offended. "Honestly, I'd expect you to be worried, too!"

"Nah," said Soul with a confident grin, "I know the Star-man can pull anything off now. I don't doubt him!"

"Aww, that's adorable," teased the girl in revenge.

"Shaddup," chuckled the boy.

The two finally finished going up the massive staircase and stopped for a second to catch their breath. Soul decided to keep talking.

"So which one were you staring at?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" replied Maka, slightly confused.

"Personally, I'd say you go for the one with the fur coat and the eye-patch," continued the red-eyed boy. "He looks WAY more normal than Glasses, Mohawk and Trench…"

"MAKA CHOP!"

Maka's green eyes flared in irritation, and her hand grabbed a book from out of nowhere and slammed it into her partner's face, sending poor Soul flying all the way down the stairs. Still feeling irked, the girl resumed her walk into the enormous skull-themed academy known as Shibusen. Inside, a young woman with long dirty-blond hair greeted her with a Coke in her hand.

"Hey, Maka," said she.

"Hey, Liz," replied the young Meister happily. "Where's Kid? I need to talk to him."

"He's in the old office as usual," answered Liz while rolling her dark blue eyes. "Seems he's trying to make the guillotines perfectly symmetrical again…"

"Thanks!" said Maka while starting to jog all the way to the Principal's office in the heart of DWMA. After about five minutes she finally reached her destination and knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a monotone voice while a tall man with dark grey hair and stitches on his face opened the door. When the man saw the visitor, his face warped into what was supposed to be a welcoming gesture but simply looked creepy due to the glare from the man's glasses. "Oh, hello Maka."

"Hey, Doctor Stein," replied the girl while a chill ran down her spine at the sight of the man's expression. "Is Kid in there?"

"Crying, as usual…" replied Franken Stein with an exasperated expression and a small shrug. "I guess you could help him…"

"I'll see what I can do…"

Stein led Maka to the Death Room, which was lined with tall guillotines that formed a hallway towards the center, where a raised circular platform with a giant mirror and a protesting young man were visible.

"I'm trash…" said Death the Kid with a cracked voice. "I'm worthless, disgusting trash… I bet my father would've done a much better job than I'm doing now…"

"Uhh… Kid?" said Maka apprehensively as she approached her friend. "You okay?"

"I heard a rumor that a powerful Meister was coming all the way here today, and I wanted to greet him fashionably in the office… but I can't even decorate it decently!" cried Kid while shaking his white-striped black hair.

"Awww, you don't have to decorate the place for me, Kiddo!" said another young man's voice behind the pair.

Maka turned to see her childhood friend Black Star smiling widely while holding his weapon partner's hand. The girl, who was blushing madly, waved shyly at her best friend.

"Black Star! Tsubaki! You're finally back!" greeted the sandy-haired girl happily at the sight of the blue-haired young man and the black-haired young woman. "What took you so long?"

"Ah, Tsubaki wanted to go to the amusement park and have fun with the Tower of Terror," said Black Star, whose tenor voice resounded loud and proud in the Death Room. "Still, we cleared the Purple Dragon gang completely! They won't be bothering us again! Am I right, Tsubaki?"

"Y-yes," said Tsubaki shyly. "By the way, what was that about a powerful Meister, Kid?"

"He was obviously talking about me," said the hot-head with a laugh. "There's no one more powerful than Stein and Me (with a capital M, 'cause I'm that awesome), and Stein's here, so that leaves me!" he said this while counting with his fingers quickly to make sure he didn't lose himself in his speech.

"Since when have you been acknowledging Stein…?" wondered Maka while a drop of sweat rolled down her forehead.

"Since I've been training him," replied the mad scientist while screwing the bolt in his head noisily. "I must admit, though, I never expected you to say that in front of your friends…"

"That's because you're the second strongest Meister to have graduated from here, besides me!" said Black Star while giving his mentor a thumbs-up.

"You really don't know who's graduated from here…" muttered Stein.

"A-anyways, Kid," Maka turned to the young Shinigami. "AT WHAT TIME IS MY LIT CLASS WITH MARIE?!"

"Oh, that?" said the golden-eyed boy. "In about half an hour, so go prepare!"

"R-right!" said the sandy-haired Meister while she ran out of the Death Room.

* * *

"Someone shut the kids up…" muttered the dark-skinned girl, annoyed. She and her light-skinned sister were sitting on a bench in front of Deathbuck's Café with the rest of their group, and two young boys that were part of it were talking the girls' ears off.

"Seriously, boys… SHUT UP!" roared a tall, powerfully-built man that was accompanying them, and the two boys immediately piped down at the sight of the man's glare.

"Thanks, Revenant…" said the light-skinned sister while rubbing her temple.

"No problem, Ivory," muttered the man named Revenant while lighting up a cigar, and one of the boys looked offended.

"Mister Revenant!" said the indignant boy while shaking his red dreadlocks. "If you need a fire, I could've provided it for you!"

"And I would've blown it off," interrupted the other boy while stroking his cyan hair. "Seriously, Agni, it's too hot for you to set anything on fire today…"

"Shut up, Rudra!" shouted the boy named Agni, and the pair would've started arguing again if another of the men hadn't intervened.

"Kids, don't start…" warned the man while adjusting his glasses. "You don't wanna get the Yamato Treatment, do you?"

"N-no, Mister Rebellion!" answered the twins in perfect unison.

"Good," said the man while looking at Shibusen in the distance. "I hope the boss hurries up…"

"Since when have you called him 'the boss'?" asked Revenant, curious.

"Goddammit," cursed Rebellion. "Friggin' Beowulf got me used to it…"

"S-sorry…" apologized the man named Beowulf, who was holding his fur coat in his left arm while moving his eye-patch a little to prevent it from sticking to his sweaty face.

"You do realize that's gross, right…?" commented Ivory with a disgusted face.

"Umm… the boss took the pooch and left to the academy…" muttered Beowulf before he and the rest of the troupe started towards the DWMA.

* * *

**That's it for our first chapter~! we kinda were planning to do the old "no author comments until the end of the series" routine, but I thought that was kinda stupid so here I am~! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the cover (which Klaus did all by himself, I might add) umm... I think I'll leave it at that for now~~**

**So! Who was Kid talking about as the "Powerful Meister"? What were Black Star and Tsubaki really doing in that mission? (just kidding on that one XDDDDD) and how many people do you think are in the troupe?! find out the answers in the next chapter of ****_Kishin May Cry_****! (and please don't kill us for our choice of title!)**

**_~Humbert_**

**Also, any questions/suggestions/critiques (whether "constructive" or not) are welcome!**


	2. Into the Academy

A young man in his twenties was standing in front of a massive staircase with a nostalgic look on his face and a light blue three-headed Siberian husky panting happily next to him.

"The old Death Weapon/Meister Academy…" commented the man while shaking off a few strands of his silver hair from his eyes. "Man, this brings us memories… So, you ready to go, pooch?" The dog's three heads barked indignantly and the man laughed, "I'm sorry, CERBERUS."

"Dante, wait up!" shouted a woman behind the pair, who was running with a group to catch up to the man.

"Oh, I was wondering where the hell you were," chuckled the man named Dante while he put his gloved hands into the pockets of his red coat. He then looked at one of the men in the party, whose black hair was tied into a short ponytail and his glasses hid his green eyes with the sun's reflection, and asked him, "Reminds you of anything, Rebellion?

"Only of our younger years, Dante," replied Rebellion with a nod and a small smirk.

"What about you, girls?" Dante looked at a pair of young ladies with different shades of blonde hair and different skin colors.

"Old battles," reminisced the one with the lighter skin but darker hair, named Ivory. "You, Ebby?"

"Fun times," remembered the one with darker skin but lighter hair, named Ebony.

Suddenly, the boy with cyan, slicked-back hair named Rudra spoke up.

"Say, is this place really, really big?" he asked.

His brother, who had red and orange dreadlocks and was called Agni, replied before anyone else. "Duh, look at the stairs! And I bet that what we're seeing from here isn't even half of it!"

"I bet it's got a lotta classrooms!" continued Rudra with a dreamy look at the academy while he and the rest of the group started ascending the stairs.

"I hope it's got an awesome dungeon!" added Agni happily. The pair of boys kept increasing the list of their expectations for the academy, ranging from an elegant cafeteria to a creepy hospital wing and everything in between.

A tall, redheaded woman with an unbelievable figure groaned, "Will they ever shut up, Artemis…?"

Artemis, a younger woman with long, dark purple, braided hair and square half-rimmed glasses responded, "Not even when they're asleep, Nevan…"

Nevan's grimace stretched. "Goddammit…"

The enormous man named Revenant heard the women complain and decided to take action. He immediately smacked the boys' heads and told them to quiet down.

"But we're gonna take forever to get there at this pace, Mister Revenant," whined Agni while Rudra nodded.

"He does have a point…" commented the eye-patch wearing man named Beowulf to Dante. "May I recommend we speed things up, boss?"

Dante looked back at the group and then back up at the academy. Surely they still had a ways to go and, if they continued at the current pace, the boys would be bored into talking again. He sighed and nodded, and Rebellion clapped his hands.

"Okay, people!" he said with his cool baritone voice. "Let's turn into our weapon forms so Dante can take us all there much faster!"

"All right!" said Ebony and Ivory, while Artemis sighed in relief.

Dante extended his hands and the whole group transformed into his equipment, which he accommodated on himself. Revenant transformed into a sawed-out shotgun that went in a holster on Dante's right leg. Artemis turned into a silver gun that also worked as an arm brace and was accommodated into another holster in Dante's left leg. Even the Cerberus was a weapon, and it was a tripartite nunchaku that went on Dante's right hip, tied down with the belt. Nevan turned into a purple guitar whose strap went over Dante's shoulder and held her to his back. Agni and Rudra morphed into two scimitars with serrated edges; Agni, the orange one, went on his user's coat's right side while Rudra, the cyan one, went on the coat's left side. Beowulf separated into four pieces and, with a gleam of light, went onto Dante's hands and feet as silver-white gloves and greaves. Ebony and Ivory mutated into respectively colored handguns that had assigned holsters at Dante's back. Finally, Rebellion's weapon form was that of a skeleton-themed claymore that had a very special strap reserved only for him on his Meister's back.

The white-haired man's cyan eyes looked back at Shibusen while he stretched his arms and shook them as a warm-up before Beowulf lit up and allowed him to move at a superhuman pace all the way up the stairs in record time. When the stairs had been cleared, Dante looked back at Death City, which looked simply outstanding from that point of view. His weapon partners transformed back into humans (and three-headed dog) and admired the scene with him. Even Agni and Rudra had little more to say than "Ooh," and "Whoa," when faced with the scene. Dante and Rebellion looked at each other and grinned before starting to walk into the academy, immediately followed by the rest of the weapons.

"Hmm…" said Dante while he walked in the school's surprisingly empty hallways. "Must be the Universal Class Period…"

"Still," commented Rebellion, who was also surprised at the emptiness, "you'd think there'd be at least some idiot playing hooky…"

"Or going to the restroom," added Ebony, who was starting to feel nervous with the chilly atmosphere. "Seriously, though, where is everyone?"

"Hey, what's this?" suddenly asked Nevan, who was eyeing an enormous bulletin board.

"Oh, that?" said Dante, who turned around and walked to his redheaded companion. "That's the Mission Board! Students here fulfill these missions in order to collect demon souls—or Kishin Eggs, as they call them here—for their partners to become Death Scythes."

"How many Kishin Eggs do they need to collect for that?" asked Revenant, interested.

"99 Kishin Eggs," answered Ivory happily, "but the REAL challenge lies in collecting a Witch Soul!"

"Witch Soul?" asked Nevan, who suddenly seemed nervous.

"Don't worry, Nevan; it's just a technical term," answered Rebellion, trying to calm the woman down. "Witches here are powerful sorceresses with enormous amounts of power, usually themed after some sort of animal for their abilities, appearances, and personalities. They're considered enemies of Shibusen due to their overly destructive nature, and they reside in their own dimension called the Witches' Realm."

"You seem to know a lot about that, Rebellion," complimented Artemis while winking at the glasses-wearing man.

"I used to read up on our potential enemies before you came along, Artie," answered the claymore with a shrug that made his shoulder muscles flex beautifully under his skeleton tank, and also made the purple-haired woman blush slightly.

"Except they're not our enemies anymore," replied a young man behind the troupe, making them all turn around. The youngster was bald save for two pillars on the sides of his head, which looked like backward-facing horns, and was wearing round glasses that made him look as intellectual as he really was.

"Say what?" asked Ebony, who was resisting the urge to laugh at the boy's goofy look.

"Whaddaya mean they're not your enemies anymore?" asked Rudra, curious.

"Did Shibusen kill them all?" asked Agni.

"Did they beat you into their service?" continued Rudra.

"Did they decide never to show up again?" added Agni.

"Enough!" said Revenant and Beowulf as they silenced the boys.

"Sorry about that," apologized Artemis while a drop of sweat rolled down her temple. "But why is it that the Witches are no longer your enemies?"

"Shibusen and the Witches made a Peace Treaty about seven months ago, after the defeat of Kishin Asura," answered the boy. "They proved to be valuable allies against the lesser Kishins during the Battle of the Moon…"

"Seven months ago?" interrupted Dante.

"Y-yeah, why?" asked the near-bald boy, who hadn't noticed the white-haired man in front of him.

"That's about the time we fought that horde of demons with Trish and Lady, isn't it?" commented Revenant to Rebellion lowly, and the latter nodded.

"Nothing, it's just that it's really recent…" replied Dante to cover the shotgun's comment. "Wow… and the Witches were the fun ones, too…"

"Excuse me?" the boy suddenly looked surprised. "You've fought Witches before?"

"Sure, kiddo," chuckled the white-haired man. "But it's been a while since we left this school…"

"Really?"

"What's your name, kid?" asked Beowulf.

"I-it's Ox Ford," replied Ox, who felt intimidated when he noticed the group was much bigger than he'd expected.

"Yeah, well," said Dante, who turned to leave and waved lazily at the boy. "Thanks, Ox!"

The group followed Dante while he searched for an open classroom to peep into, and he finally found one in the school's third floor, where a young woman with sand-colored pigtails seemed to be giving a presentation. What caught Dante, Rebellion, and Beowulf's attention, however, was the highly attractive blonde who seemed to be the teacher that was sitting near the board, evaluating the young woman's presentation.

"Marie Mjolnir?" asked Rebellion when he noticed who the blonde was, and he made his way through the group and into the classroom, waving at the woman. "Hey, Marie! Marie!"

"Oh?" said the teacher, who wasn't looking at the approaching man's direction until he was right next to her. "A-ah! I'm sorry, d-do I know you?"

"Of course you do, Marie!" said Rebellion with a friendly smile that attracted the female gaze from the whole classroom. "It's me, Rebellion!"

"R-Rebellion?" Marie suddenly remembered who the man in front of her was, and she stood up slowly and gave him a gentle hug. "W-wow, I can't believe my eyes!"

"Why the softies, Marie?" asked the man jokingly. "You always like to crush people with your hugs..." then he noticed the blonde's pregnant belly. "O-oh."

"Wait," Marie looked at the door and smiled, "if Rebellion's here, then that means…"

"Dante's near!" said the white-haired man while walking proudly into the classroom after telling the rest of the weapons to stay at the door.

"Dante…?" asked Maka to herself while the newcomers were chatting with her teacher and interrupting her presentation. "Where have I heard that name before…?"

* * *

**Whoa, I can't believe we finished this chapter so soon! It's almost magical! XDDDD anyways, we finally have all of Dante's weapons for this fic properly introduced so you don't have to worry about that anymore~~ Maka seems to know Dante's name from somewhere... but where from? She definitely didn't hear it in the café~~ Also, sorry if you think this chapter came out a little short... but the series is just starting, so the good, meaty stuff is on its way~ (God that sounded so wrong XDDDD)**

**Remember, anything you guys wanna say about the story, feel free to say it~! I won't bite~~ **

**...ok, I DO bite, but I can't bite through your computer screens XDDDD**

**_Humbert_**


	3. The Death Room Fills Up?

"So, since when have you stopped wearing shirts?"

"Um, pretty much since we left the school… Since when are you into being a mother?"

"That's a pretty funny story, actually… but tell me about what you've been up to, Dante!"

Dante and Marie were chatting happily in the teachers' room in Shibusen, the former having sent his weapons to explore the academy with Rebellion as their tour guide, and the latter having dismissed the class early due to the unexpected visit. So the white-haired man started telling his old classmate about some of his adventures after he left Shibusen, but nothing about his hunting business and the other times he'd defeated major demons. Marie was eyeing him for a little until she interrupted him.

"You know," she said, "I kinda like your hair better this way."

"Huh?" Dante shook off a few silver strands that were getting in his left eye. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Your hair looks better white," said the blonde while rubbing her belly. "Whoops! Someone's feeling anxious."

"I wonder why," said a monotone voice behind Dante, who immediately stood up in a defensive posture. Franken Stein, who stood a neck and head taller than Dante, smiled and shook his head slowly before saying, "Ah, Dante… It's been awhile…"

"What the hell happened to your head, Frankie?" asked Dante, who couldn't take his eyes off the giant bolt stuck in the scientist's skull. "Did your madness finally catch up to you?"

"What the hell happened to yours, _Danny_?" retorted Stein sourly while screwing the bolt with a sardonic expression. "Black emo-hawk not cool enough for you?"

"That was just a phase, smartass..." muttered the man while scratching the back of his head and sitting back in his chair. "By the way, what're YOU doing here?"

"I give class here," replied the grey-haired man while sitting next to Marie. "Plus I'm married now."

"Y-you what?!" Dante couldn't believe his eyes. The most unfeeling man on the face of the Earth being hitched and starting a family seemed to him like the kind of thing he could only find in a fan fiction, but there it was: as plain as day, Franken Stein had his hand around a blushing Marie Mjolnir's shoulders. He looked at the blonde and chuckled, "Well, that explains why you didn't wanna tell me who the father was…"

"Would you have believed either of us if we told you?" shrugged the pregnant woman.

"You? Nope," replied the white-haired man with a grin. He then looked at the grey-haired man with the stitches on his face and added, "But Frankie wouldn't ever joke about that…"

"Where's Rebellion? I want to see how he's evolved," commented Stein while he lit up a cigarette.

Marie looked angry at the scientist and slapped the cigarette off, saying, "Stein! You know you're not supposed to smoke anymore! It might affect the baby…"

"Gosh, I forgot," said Stein while rolling his eyes.

"Wow, you already work nicely as a couple…" commented Dante while looking away.

"So where's Rebellion, Dante?" asked Stein once again.

"Oh, he's giving the tour to my other weapons," answered the red-coated man. "Ebony and Ivory are with them as well."

"More weapons, hmm?" muttered Stein while looking at Dante.

"Yup, but it tends to get crowded at night…" commented the hunter with a naughty smirk. "Since I don't have enough money to buy a mansion, my apartment's filled with hammocks… and none of them are free for me…"

"So where do you sleep, Dante?" asked Marie, worried.

"Couch," replied both Stein and Dante at the same time. The hunter looked at the scientist and asked, "How do you know that?"

"I remembered that time you slept over our place when I was still partners with Spirit," answered the glasses-wearer with a shrug. "I figured you'd get a habit out of it."

"Speaking of Spirit; how is he?" asked the hunter.

"Oh, he's acting director…" replied Marie, suddenly looking at the floor with sad eyes.

"Acting director? What about Lord Death?" asked Dante, who now seemed worried.

"He…" Marie's uncovered eye filled with tears.

"He passed away," answered Stein, who remained as unfeeling as ever.

"WHAT?!" Dante shouted.

* * *

"Hey, Maka, what are you—"

"Shh!"

Soul Eater rolled his eyes, offended by his meister, but he quieted down and sat next to her while she flipped pages in a frenzy to find something. After about five minutes of annoying silence for Soul, Maka finally shouted "Aha! Got it!"

"Got what?" asked the white-haired youngster.

"'Dante Sparda was one of Shibusen's History's top five meisters. He is tied with his twin brother Vergil for the second spot, while the first is taken by his classmate Franken Stein,'" read Maka out loud for her weapon partner. "I knew I'd heard that name from somewhere!"

"Whaddaya mean?" asked Soul, interested.

"Dante and his weapon partner Rebellion came to class today!" said the pigtailed girl excitedly. "This must be the guy Kid was talking about!"

"Whoa!" Soul looked excited as well. "His weapon came as well?"

"It says here that, when he left school, he had three weapon partners: Rebellion the Claymore, and Ebony and Ivory the guns!" replied the green-eyed girl, looking at the book again. "Guns? Like Liz and Patty?"

"Hopefully they're not as insane as those two," chuckled Soul while looking out the library's window. "Shall we go look for him, then?"

"And this is the library, everyone!" said a girl's voice behind the pair, making them turn around. A girl with dark skin but short, light-blond hair and a white letter E tattooed to her left arm was leading an enormous group of people into the room, and everyone's heads turned to see the crowd that was arriving. A pair of boys suddenly ran for the shelves, and the dark-skinned girl shouted, "Agni! Rudra! Get back here and don't touch anything! Especially you, Agni!"

A boy with red and orange dreadlocks returned a book with a disappointed expression. Maka looked back at the group and recognized Rebellion immediately; that well-built body with black hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes behind round glasses had been burnt into the sandy-haired girl's memory and made her drool unconsciously, which Soul noticed immediately.

"Really, Maka?" Soul said. "And you say I'm perverted…"

"Shaddup, Soul," snapped Maka. "I found Rebellion!" She then walked quickly towards the group, which she remembered had seen a few hours ago in Deathbuck's Café. She plucked up her courage to talk to the claymore when a man stepped in front of her. "Umm, excuse me, but I want to talk to Mr. Rebellion…"

"Revenant, what's this about?" said Rebellion, stepping forward towards Maka.

"This kid wants to talk to you," replied Revenant while scratching his Mohawk.

"So? You're not my bodyguard; she can talk to me directly," said the glasses-wearing man while approaching the sandy-haired girl. Maka wasn't exactly short, though 5'4" wasn't exactly the tallest thing around either, but Rebellion was six feet tall and towered over her, making her shy away a little. "Well? What did you wanna talk to me about?"

"Ummm… I…" Maka found herself stammering to the man, who kept looking at her like she was a butterfly trying to emerge from its cocoon. "I wanna t-try to use Soul P-Perception on you guys… i-if you don't mind…"

Suddenly, a bark came from beside Revenant, who was also listening to Maka, and the light blue dog she had seen jumped to her and pinned her down. Revenant and Rebellion immediately tried to move the dog away from Maka, but the dog's three heads simply wanted to catch her scent. Beowulf finally came to assist until the poor girl could finally stand—though she was covered in dog slobber. Revenant apologized for Cerberus' actions and told Maka to first pet it before approaching the rest of the group.

"So this dog has a protective nature…?" muttered Maka to herself while all three heads panted happily at her touch. She immediately activated her Soul Perception ability to look at the dog's soul, and she had a surprise. The dog's soul was that of a weapon! Almost unable to believe it, Maka also noticed the soul had an icy shade of blue, and three little heads came out from the center sphere, meaning that the three heads had a collective mind; she also noticed the usual protective spirit that dogs have, and a stronger sense of loyalty than that of a normal pet.

She then looked at Revenant's soul and saw its power was far above average for a weapon, almost on par with the Witch Eruka's soul in terms of power. Maka was surprised to see all the people in the group that accompanied Dante were weapons—and powerful ones, at that—once she saw all of their souls, and she wondered what kind of Meister could wield so many weapons at once. Soul came behind her and interrupted her examination.

"Are you done yet?" asked the white-haired boy.

"Huh? What?" said Maka, who was broken out of her concentration. "I'm sorry, Soul. Did you want something?"

"Rebellion!" called Marie's voice at the library's entrance. "Dante wants to see you in the Death Room!"

"Death Room?" asked Agni, who was reading a book over another student's shoulder. "You didn't tell us about that other room, Miss Ebby!"

"That's because I didn't expect for us to be called there," muttered Ebony while looking at her sister Ivory worried. "Say, Ivy… Do you think Lord Death will give us a speech for leaving the school before graduating?"

"A lotta people leave before graduating, Ebby," replied Ivory with a smile. "Besides, it's always fun to hear his goofy voice!"

Maka took advantage of the situation and looked at both sisters' souls. Ebony's soul was the same size as Ivory's, but it was much more outgoing. Ivory's, however, was empathetic but more reserved than her sister. Soul took advantage of the situation and looked at both sisters' bodies. Ebony and Ivory were the same height, but Ebony had a smaller bust but wider hips and better-developed buttocks than her more buxom sister. Their taste in clothes was also different. Ebony wore a black, sleeveless denim jacket with a white tank underneath and blue shorts that barely covered her thighs; Ivory wore a white dress with a light-blue corset and a layered white skirt. Soul couldn't decide which of the girls he liked more, and his partner noticed and chopped him in the head.

"OW! What was that for?" said Soul while rubbing his head and watching the group leaving.

"Woman's intuition," replied the girl with a frown.

"That doesn't even make any sense…" muttered the white-haired boy while pouting.

* * *

"…you're the who-the-wha'?"

"I'm the new Shinigami," replied a young man with black hair with three lines that went around his head. "But my friends call me Death the Kid."

"Lord Death had fragmented again about sixteen years ago, around the same time as you left," continued a red-haired man with a dark suit. "By the way, did anyone tell you that you look better with long hair?"

"Yes, Spirit," replied Dante in a slow, somewhat menacing manner. "Can we just ignore the hair?"

"Then how about we talk about your coat?" muttered Kid audibly, and the Demon Hunter looked at him with a creepy stare.

"ARE YOU GONNA JOCK ON MY CAPE, KID?!" he asked with a snarl that intimidated Spirit.

"It's not symmetrical," replied the Shinigami with a snobbish face that deflated quickly when Dante's eyes flared up with anger. "I-I mean, y-you should get a new one… T-the ripped sleeve looks nice, b-but only if the other one is ripped too, or…"

"Hmm, I know," replied Dante, looking at his right sleeve, which was ripped off just below the elbow. "But it's from the first time I fought my brother since we left school, so it's got kind of a sentimental value…"

* * *

"So what brings you to Death City?" asked Soul while walking next to Revenant, who was smoking his cigar, toward the Death Room.

"We're short on money," replied the man indifferently, "as usual."

"Not to mention the shop got blown up again," added Ebony. "We need a place to stay, and Nevan had seen the old school brochure in Dante's room."

"It's not like I was looking for it, though," added the curvaceous redhead. "The boys were playing hide-and-seek with me, and I was 'It.'"

Meanwhile, Maka was being bombarded with questions from Agni and Rudra, all of which she was trying to answer without losing her patience, lest she caused a bad impression on Rebellion.

"Is there a uniform for the school?" asked Agni.

"Why doesn't everyone use it if there is?" added Rudra.

"There's a choice not to wear it if you don't want to," answered Maka while rolling her eyes backwards, trying to control her temper.

"So we can wear anything we want as our uniform?"

"Can we wear the same thing for the whole week if we wanna?"

"Yikes, Rudra, that's gross!"

"It's not if I wash the clothes that same night, Agni."

"But then your clothes will whiten out, don't you think?"

"Then I'll just fill my closet with the same stuff!"

"But won't that get boring? Just wear different stuff every day!"

"Geez, are they always like that…?" muttered Maka, frustrated.

"Even when they sleep they talk," answered Artemis, who was looking out the windows uninterested.

"How is it that you haven't gone insane?" asked the sandy-haired girl, curious but still annoyed.

"Dante knows how to put them in their place," replied the purple-haired woman. "If I ever saw a man that knows how to have fun but be so strict with those two, it's him." Cerberus barked happily, or at least one of its heads did; Artemis giggled and replied, "Indeed, it IS like he was their father…"

"Wait; you know what it says?" asked Maka while the group finally entered the Death Room.

"More or less," replied the glasses-wearing woman. "We got really used to him, since the pooch was with Dante before most of us—Jesus, Cujo, pipe down! I know your name is Cerberus!"

"Cujo?" Maka asked. "As in, Stephen King's _Cujo_?"

"Oh, you've read Stephen King?" asked Artemis.

"He's my favorite horror author!" said Maka happily. "My favorite is _The Shining_!"

"Personally, I like Poe's works better," replied the purple-haired woman with a shrug. "_Masque of the Red Death_ is one of the best."

Both girls kept talking about their horror writers until someone even more frightening came up.

"Is that what I think it is?" said Stein's voice as he flash-stepped in front of Cerberus, a creepy grin appearing on his face. "Such a fascinating specimen… Are all three heads conscious of each other, or do they all act as one being? Their soul has three heads as well… maybe I should check it out myself… I think I have—aha!" He pulled out a large scalpel and was slowly approaching the dog, which started barking in fear and was backing away from the madman.

Suddenly, three hands grabbed Stein's coat and pulled him away from the dog. Marie, Revenant, and Rebellion glared at the scientist disapprovingly, and the blonde said, "Seriously, Stein? They're our guests; you can't go around dissecting our guests!"

"You mean, like the rat that scared the hell out of you three nights ago?" asked Stein in his usual monotone.

"That's different, dummy," snapped Marie. "It was trying to steal from the fridge…"

Death the Kid was surprised at the quantity of different people that had entered the Death Room and was quite pleased that it was big enough to hold the crowd. Dante smiled at him and said, "In case you're wondering, they're all my weapons."

"All of them?" asked Kid, counting the people that were in the crowd besides Soul, Maka, Marie, and Stein. "How can you carry ten weapons on yourself?"

"That's what all these straps are for!" he said, pointing at the strap that went across his chest to his back and the holsters on his legs and back.

* * *

Black Star was on his way from Shibusen's gym outside the main campus to the Death Room with a disappointed expression, with Tsubaki walking right next to him.

"I'm sure it wasn't intentional," the busty black-haired girl was saying.

"The hell it wasn't! Who the hell forgets the bench-press machine in a gym?!" said the blue-haired boy with a snarl. "Friggin' Kid must've taken it home because its weights are symmetrical…"

"I don't see Kid as the lifting type, though…" muttered Tsubaki before adding, "Wait, wasn't Kid supposed to be attending that guest he was talking about?"

"He already attended me, sweetheart," chuckled Black Star with a flirty tone that made his weapon partner blush madly.

"S-stop it…" said the weapon while playing with her index fingers shyly. "Y-you know very well he wasn't talking about you…"

"I know, Tsubaki," said the Meister while starting to walk into the academy, "but I'm not the only one who uses the bench-press machine, so I should tell Kid anyways."

A pair of girls walked past the pair and giggled when they saw Black Star before continuing on their way, making him and Tsubaki wonder what they were talking about.

"Ah, must be 'cause they saw how cool I am," said the boy, continuing his way to the Death Room.

They passed a classroom where two people that sounded like Ox Ford and his partner Har Vard were talking about someone named Dante, and Tsubaki commented on that to her Meister partner.

"Who d'you think this Dante guy is?" she asked.

"I dunno, but if he thinks he's better than me, he's gonna have it coming," replied the Meister while kicking open the door to the Death Room.

* * *

**Welp, that's it for today, folks~! It seems that Dante and Black Star are getting closer and closer to meeting! but don't worry; the story won't end when that happens XDDDDD**

**also, someone left a review commenting on how "cluttered" the story felt with all of Dante's weapons and to whomever that is (it was a guest review :P ) I tell 'em that that's the point! Dante has so many weapons that even though he's a badass with all of them, he tends to be overstuffed with them. That was the whole point of his character in ****_Marvel vs. Capcom 3_****, where he had pretty much all of these weapons and had the most moves in the whole game to make the most stylish combos! (even though he was nerfed to make the whole game fair XDDD) whoever that person was also pointed out that Revenant's the reboot (****_DmC: Devil May Cry_****-redundant title, I know) shotgun... but honestly, I prefer Revenant over Coyote-A (as a name) and... well, the other reason will become a little more obvious as the story goes, so I won't tell you just yet~!**

**_Humbert_**

**PS. to answer .58 (that's a funny username, no offense), we promise we won't abandon it! ...Even though college is a bitch and might delay some chapters... also, Klaus is a little busy with drawings as well, so production will be slowed down :P sowwy~**


	4. First Encounter!

"So what kind of job do you require?"

"Pretty much anything that requires a Two-to-Three-Star Meister. We'll also take some part-time jobs for the weapons so we can gather more money to repair the shop."

"And pay for your temporary apartment, I assume?"

"Of course. But where will it be?"

"KIIIIIIIIIIIDDDD!"

Dante and Death the Kid turned around and noticed the Death Room's sky background was slowly turning stormy as a young man with blue hair approached the Shinigami with an angry expression. The other people that were in the Death Room looked at the newcomer while he stomped his way to Kid. Dante looked at Kid, asking for an explanation, but Black Star shoved him away.

"Kid, did you take the bench-press machine?" he said, his eyes flaring with anger.

"What would make you think—?" Kid said, but was interrupted by the scarf-wearing boy.

"Don't lie to me! You took it because it was symmetrical! You know a lotta people use it in the gym!" he said.

"Sheesh… what a drag," muttered the golden-eyed boy. "Fine, I left it at home…"

"Excuse me!" said Dante, noticeably irritated by the intruder. "Who the hell are you?"

"What's it to you, chump?" replied Black Star sharply, making Maka and Tsubaki, the latter having entered the Death Room right behind her partner, gasp. He then turned to Kid and continued, "Listen, Kid. If you don't like having to enter the gym because it's not symmetrical, then just arrange for it to be so!"

"Oi! I wasn't done!" said Dante, whose blue eyes flared red with swelling rage. He grabbed Black Star by the shoulder and turned him around.

"Do you mind?" said the blue-haired hothead, visibly irked by the interruption. "This is about something more people than just me, care about, and I don't like people with a bigger mouth than mine."

"Well, I can agree with that," smirked Dante while his weapons went to back him up. "Now do you mind? I was talking with Kid about something more important than you for more people than me, kiddo."

Something in Black Star's eyes snapped, and the blue-haired boy shoved the white-haired man off of himself. Rebellion caught his partner before he fell on his ass, and the pair scowled at Black Star, whose scarf started moving as if the wind was hitting it. Stein, Maka, and Kid's eyes widened when they say Black Star's spiky soul swelling up to an incredible size, just like it did whenever he was about to unleash his rage on someone. Maka then looked at Dante's soul to see if he'd be able to stand a chance against the boy and noticed something unbelievable. Unfortunately, Black Star didn't let her try to analyze what Dante's soul was, exactly, for he had grabbed Dante by the coat and thrown him out of the Death Room before following him out with incredible speed. The hunter's weapons all glared at Tsubaki, who was about to apologize for her partner's behavior when the fight broke out.

Maka stepped in front of Tsubaki, ready to defend her friend if necessary, when Liz and Patty entered the Death Room and ran over to Kid.

"You won't believe this, Kid!" said Liz while trying to catch her breath.

"Black Star and that guy we were gonna meet today are fighting outside!" shouted Patty, who looked alarmed. Upon hearing this, Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory, and Cerberus ran at full speed to find their partner. Maka looked at Tsubaki, who gulped and sprinted out of the Death Room.

"That explains why the sky turned stormy in here…" commented Stein while the rest of Dante's weapons left.

* * *

"You got skills, kid!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

Black Star landed a full punch into Dante's stomach and sent him reeling to near the stairs. The white-haired man stood up just in time to block an incoming kick and push the blue-haired boy backwards to make space.

"Why're you attacking me?" asked Dante.

"You called Me, the GREAT Black Star, a kid! And you said I wasn't important!" roared the irate boy, holding his ground.

"Well, to me, you're not," remarked the man with a smirk, which Black Star returned with a full glare.

Black Star was about to run at Dante, hopefully to tackle him all the way down Shibusen's stairs, but a shot hit him in the ankle and distracted him, allowing the man to kick him aside. When the boy looked up, he saw one of Dante's female partners holding a black gun while Rebellion checked Dante for any serious injury. Suddenly, a hand pulled him up and touched his forehead.

"Tsubaki, what're you—?"

"Why did you pick a fight with this guy, Black Star?" asked the busty, black-haired girl while she glared at him austerely.

"You heard what he said!" said the blue-eyed young man with a snarl.

"I heard what he said," acknowledged the Demon Arm, "but that doesn't authorize you to give him a beating!"

"I don't care! He thinks he's better than me!"

**"**Black Star, please! Think for just once!" pleaded the girl. "This guy is considered the second-best Meister to have ever studied here!"

"I'm better than him," snapped Black Star.

"I don't care! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Black Star stopped glaring at Dante, who was now surrounded by his weapon partners, and looked into his own partner's indigo eyes, which were filling with tears. His expression softened when he saw her, and he sighed to signal his blood was cooling down. Tsubaki sobbed once and held him tightly. Dante looked at the pair with an odd expression, and immediately turned his back to them, walking away. Rebellion quickly caught up with his partner and said, "That was a close one."

"Tell me about it," chuckled the red-coated man. "Though I was kinda itching to fight him…"

"Dante, that's not really nice," intervened Ebony.

"Yeah, we could seriously hurt that kid," chuckled Artemis, and the rest of the group laughed.

* * *

"Are you sure, Maka?"

"I'm positive!"

"How come I couldn't see it?"

"I… I dunno…"

It was much later in the evening, and Soul, Maka, Kid, Liz, Patty, Stein, and Marie were sitting in Stein's office, and Maka was reporting her discovery of Dante's soul: according to her, Dante's soul was partially that of a full-fledged Kishin. Stein and Marie kept quiet the whole time, analyzing the situation at hand. Kid, the Thompson sisters, and Soul were all arguing on whether something should be done about it, but Maka seemed worried about something else.

"Maka," said Marie suddenly, making the rest of the group quiet down, "did you see anything else?"

"W-well…" Maka blushed slightly at the thought of Dante's shirtless body, but it was a distraction from what she had seen.

"Spit it out, Maka," urged Soul, who now looked worried.

"Well… the other side of his soul—the one that wasn't a Kishin Soul, that is—was… an Angel Soul…" muttered Maka.

"Of course," muttered Stein, uninterested.

Kid, however, looked even more intrigued.

"An Angel Soul?" he asked. "You mean a Grigori Soul like yours?"

"Y-yeah," replied the sandy-haired girl. "I never thought I'd see a third person with it…"

"His brother Vergil also has one," added Stein, and everyone looked at him in shock. "That's one of the main reasons why neither of them is a full-fledged Kishin, the other one being that their human mother raised them to resist their demonic half."

"Wait, did you say their mother is human?" asked Liz. "What about their dad?"

"He was a powerful Kishin named Sparda," replied the scientist while cleaning his glasses. "Kid and Maka must've heard of him."

Maka shook her head, denying the statement, but Kid tapped his lips in deep thought.

"My father once mentioned Sparda," he said. "If I remember correctly, I was checking one of Father's lists of most powerful Kishin Eggs, and the name Sparda appeared there, but it was crossed out. Father said that Sparda was an insanely powerful Kishin that had managed to break through the demonic ranks by defeating them all and defending the human race. He had a treaty with Shibusen in which he would not be hunted so long as he keeps defending the humans, but he eventually disappeared.

"Father also mentioned another Kishin, Mundus, who had a sworn enemy in Sparda, but Father never found him, until it was finally reported that someone had vanquished him. That's when I first heard of Dante. Apparently, Sparda had fathered twins with a human woman by the name of Eva, and died shortly thereafter. That's essentially all I know about Dante and his brother Vergil, besides the fact that they're tied for second place as most powerful Meisters."

"Actually, Kid," intervened Stein while cranking the bolt in his head, "they're more powerful than I am."

"What?!" said all the youngsters in a surprised unison.

"Listen to me first," said Stein. "How would Shibusen look if their top-tier Meisters are partially members of the very race they aim to defeat? Forget for a second that they never made Death Weapons, since they went on their own and probably defeated more powerful witches than Arachne and Medusa. Those two, with their massive power, could be considered threats to the whole world if they went rogue…"

"So that's why they're not number one?" asked Soul with a slightly disgusted expression. "Because of some stupid racist thing? As far as Dante goes, he's one of the coolest guys I've ever met!"

"Not to mention he wasn't really looking for a fight with Black Star…" added Maka. "But then again, a lotta people underestimate that moron…"

* * *

"Sheesh, Agni, can't you NOT overcook anything?"

"S-sorry, Miss Nevan…"

Dante and his weapons were sitting in front of their TV in their temporary apartment, and Agni was taking away a burnt-smelling bag of popcorn while Rudra opened a window to let the smell out. Rebellion looked at Dante and noticed he was distracted, so he spoke to him.

"You okay, Dante?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm all right," replied the white-haired man.

"You sure? You seem distracted," replied the black-haired man. "Did that kid say anything?"

"Nothing I wouldn't've said at his age," chuckled Dante while taking a sip from his bottle of beer. "He's got a massive ego, I must admit…"

"If it's as big as yours, then I'll bet you two're gonna get along just fine," commented Artemis with a smile.

"You kiddin'? That little bastard's annoying!" replied Dante with an alarmed expression.

"So said Vergil about you, boss," remarked Beowulf with a kind smile, "and look how you two ended up."

"Fighting almost to the death more than thrice?" said Revenant while he grabbed a third bottle of beer and chugged it down. "I don't think Dante wants that with anyone anymore…"

"Hey, the last time Vergil and the boss met, they were a bit kinder to each other," protested the eye-patch wearer.

"He was possessed into trying to kill Dante, Beowulf," reminded Ebony, and Cerberus barked twice. "I agree, Cerberus, we should shut up… the movie's about to start!"

* * *

Tsubaki was still trembling when the clock struck eleven o'clock. That little encounter with Dante made Black Star explode in rage because of one stupid comment that shouldn't have been said, and that rage scared her more than she could have imagined. The busty girl made a mental note to go apologize to Dante for her partner's behavior as soon as she knew where to find him, and she finished brushing her teeth after noticing she was distracted while looking at herself in the mirror. She walked to her and her partner's bedroom and sat in her bed, looking at her softly-snoring, shirtless, awkwardly-positioned partner sleeping in the other bed and she couldn't help but smile at him. After so much they'd been through, Black Star still reacted as harshly at someone calling him small now as he did the first time they met the samurai Mifune.

Maybe some things about him wouldn't change as much as others, but that was all right with Tsubaki. She knew he'd learn better someday, and she eagerly awaited for that day to come; in the meantime, however, she'd have to support and help her partner the same way he's supported and helped her. Tsubaki sighed lowly and stood up. With some effort, she moved the dumbbells away from Black Star's bed so she could move her bed next to his—and she set her alarm to wake her up early so she could accommodate her bed back to its place.

* * *

**so there you have it~! Black Star and Dante finally met! :DDD but it went worse than I expected... those morons XDDDD so yea, Dante is gonna be taking jobs too?! and Agni and Rudra are gonna have part-times?! I gotta baaaaad feeling about this... :3**

**but that's it for today, folks~! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which was slightly shorter than I'd expected.. :P what the hell, we can make the next few chapters longer, depending on what those kids do (you can never really tell these days what would happen with characters in your OWN work of fiction, huh?)**

**what will happen in the next chapter?! I dunno yet, I gotta ask Klaus XDDDDD still, leave your opinions on this or any other chapter as they keep coming~! see ya (or read ya) later~!**

**_Humbert_**


	5. Mornings and Missions

Tsubaki wasn't sure about whether she was having a nightmare or the best dream in her life. When she woke up, she noticed that it was three hours later than her alarm was supposed to sound off at. When she looked around herself in a frenzy she saw her bed was still attached to Black Star's, and the blue-haired young man was nowhere to be seen, making the black-haired young woman jump out of bed and run to the apartment's kitchen, knowing her Meister partner always woke up with an empty, roaring stomach. When the Demon Arm reached her destination, however, she found a plate of pancakes, hash browns, and a bacon-and-cheese omelet waiting for her with a steaming mug of chocolate and a letter beside the plate. It read in Black Star's slightly slanted writing:

_Tsubaki,_

_Happy birthday! I know you like to wake up early and make breakfast for the both of us while keeping the kitchen all neat and stuff, but since it's not every day My (with a capital M cause I'm that awesome) partner turns 18, I decided to give it a shot by Myself! I turned off your alarm so you could sleep more comfortably while I did My best for your breakfast… so yeah. I also woke up earlier than usual to make sure I could follow that cookbook without making too much of a mess, but if you find anything out of place then I'm sorry… Enjoy your meal and happy birthday! Sorry if this seems a little out of the ordinary…_

_Hugs,_

_The Great Black Star_

_PS. I went to work out at Kilik's if you need anything_

Tsubaki's eyes filled with tears when she finished reading the letter, and she sat down and ate the breakfast her partner prepared for her, and enjoyed the spiciness of the omelet, the sweetness of the pancakes, and the saltiness of the hash browns to the last bite; a giggle escaped her mouth as she imagined her Meister partner wearing an apron and trying his earnest to follow a cookbook to the letter. When she finished, she changed from her nightgown to her everyday clothes, brushed her teeth and tied her long hair into her signature ponytail before she left the apartment after making sure the kitchen was clean—which Black Star did a surprisingly good job at—and went to look for Kid.

* * *

"This is bull—"

"Maka, calm down!"

"I wanted this mission for a long time!"

"I know, but someone got to it first… I bet it was the Star-man."

"He knew very damn well I wanted it! Oh, when he gets back, I'm gonna kill him!"

Maka kept ranting at the mission board, where a particular mission set in Japan about eliminating a demonic woman who appeared in the forests in springtime to kill any innocent girl that wanders off, while Soul wondered why on Earth his best friend would take a mission they had agreed to let Maka take. He looked at the hallway and noticed Tsubaki was walking towards them with a delighted expression, which struck as odd to the white-haired boy.

"Wait, Tsubaki?" greeted Soul with a confused look. "What're you doing here?"

"Um, I study here, Soul," giggled the black-haired girl. She then looked at Maka and asked her, "Is everything all right, Maka?"

"No, cause stupid Black Star took MY mission!" answered the pigtailed girl without thinking. "We had agreed that I would have it! ME! Not him!"

"What're you talking about?" asked the bustier of the girls. "Black Star's at Kilik's house, Maka. We'd never take that mission!"

"Wait, what?" Maka's face almost deflated like a balloon. "Then who the hell took it?"

* * *

"YAHOO! EAT MY BLADE!"

A certain red-coated man ran his claymore sword through the possessed tree that was attacking him and sliced it in half before quickly pulling out a pair of guns and shooting at the woman that was being protected by the trees. The woman fell to the ground with the bullets' impacts and the man dashed at her with incredible speed and pierced her chest with the claymore, immediately defeating her. When the demonic woman's body disappeared, a Kishin Egg that was her soul emerged and was immediately absorbed by the claymore, which had now turned into a tall, well-built man with black hair and green eyes.

"Killer takes the soul," said Rebellion while the rest of Dante's weapons that had accompanied the man transformed. Ebony, Ivory, Beowulf, and Cerberus looked sorely disappointed.

"I knew we should've sent heavier bullets," muttered Ivory with a pout. "Rebellion's Stinger is almost a certain kill!"

"We weren't gonna make it either way, Ivy," replied Ebony with a similar expression.

"All right, kids," called Dante to the weapons. "It's time to go and collect our pay!"

Cerberus barked happily and Beowulf replied to it. "No, Cerberus; we'll have steak when we have more money." The eye-patch wearing man turned to the white-haired one and said, "Boss, I think we should've taken another job while we had the chance; this one was a cakewalk."

"Of course it was," replied Dante with a grin. "This is meant for kids! This money's like candy from a baby!"

"I don't think that blue-haired guy was as much a baby as the rest, though," commented Rebellion while he adjusted his glasses. "He looked like he could put up a good fight…"

"Hey, I was holding back," said Dante with a serious voice. "Besides, I think that we could teach the kids a few things while we're there. They have so much potential…"

"Potential?" asked Ivory while raising an eyebrow. "I never expected you to find potential in kids…"

"Well, they're pretty much the 'World's Police,'" answered the red-coated man with a grin. "They should be able to take on much more than these wusses and their witches with capital B's."

"Good point," commented Beowulf. "If a demon like Mundus appears, and we're not available until much later, we gotta make sure they can at least hold it until we arrive."

"Exactly," acknowledged Dante with a nod. "That's why I feel like teaching for a while now…"

"But you lack patience for teaching…" muttered Ebony with a smirk.

"Hey, watch it!" snapped Dante.

* * *

"That bastard…" muttered Maka Albarn when Death the Kid told her about the Demon Hunter's whereabouts. "Didn't you tell him it was reserved?"

"That wasn't me; that was your dad who gave him the green light," answered Kid with an apologetic gesture. "You can still take on the London Vampires mission, though…"

"That one's too cheesy!" complained the green-eyed girl while shaking her arms up and down. "I wanted a good one with an amazing view! Think of the sakura trees in the Japanese forests right now! Darn, I wanted to be there so bad…"

"I know, Maka," said Soul supportively. "Still, we have another thing to worry about."

"What's that?" asked Kid while Maka opened her eyes wide in shock.

"That's right! Today's Tsubaki's birthday!" said the pigtailed girl with a snap from her fingers.

"Exactly," replied Soul with a nod. "We need to go buy her a cake; Black Star should know her favorite flavor, so we should ask him."

"Where is he, then?" asked Kid while he put his hands together pensively.

"Tsubaki said he's working out at Kilik's," answered Maka, remembering what the busty girl had said, "so we should check there first."

"Great! Let's go, then," said Soul with his shark teeth emerging in his grin. The trio ran from the Death Room and bumped into Patty, who was about to walk in.

"Hello, Patty!" greeted the pigtailed girl happily. "We're gonna get Black Star so we can buy a cake for Tsubaki's birthday!"

"Oh, that's today?" asked the busty blonde with a funny grin. "Then lemme tell Liz so we can meet up in the bakery! I hope we can buy a giraffe-shaped cake!"

"I don't think she likes giraffes much, though," commented Kid.

"I know; I was kiddin'."

* * *

"Carrot cake…?" asked Maka with an odd expression. About an hour had passed, and Black Star had told his friends about Tsubaki's cake preferences.

"Yeah, she started liking it since you guys bought it for my birthday," said Black Star with a smile. The rest of the group looked at each other with awkward expressions and a drop of sweat on each's head.

"How can you tell, Star-man?" asked Soul. "I mean, your birthday isn't the best reference to say anyone likes cake…"

"She ate the carrot cake Marie-sensei made for the Easter party," replied the blue-haired young man. "But still, Soul; food fight aside, the party was pretty good! It's gotta be, since it was my birthday!"

"Food fight aside, the party was boring," remarked Patty, who wasn't paying much attention to the conversation. She noticed one of the employees was staring at the group with curiosity. "Oi," called the blonde at the man, "you lost something here?"

"What is it, Patty?" asked Liz, who looked at the employee and recognized his Mohawk immediately. "Hey, aren't you one of the guys that came with that white-haired hunk?"

Revenant smirked at the dirty-blonde's description of Dante and replied, "Yeah, Dante's my Meister. Still, if you're here to order a cake, you better hurry it up; you're holding the line."

"Drat," muttered Kid when he noticed the line went all the way out of the store. "Black Star, you better order that cake soon…"

"I just did, moron," replied the blue-haired hothead with a cheeky smirk. He then looked at Revenant, who was sweeping the floor of the bakery, and he suddenly looked more serious than usual.

Soul and Kid noticed the boy's behavior and approached him together. Soul placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder and asked him if he was all right, to which Black Star dismissed the group and promised he'd catch up later.

* * *

Dante was whistling a tune while he and his weapon partners were aboard the plane that would transport them back to Death City, and his phone started to ring. He immediately picked it up and was surprised to hear Artemis on the other end of the call.

"Hey, Dante," greeted the purple-haired young woman.

"This is a surprise," replied the white-haired man.

"Sorry I had to interrupt your travel," said Artemis while she adjusted her glasses. "I have a chick here that wants to talk to you…"

"Do I have to…?" asked Dante, rolling his eyes lazily.

"Well, I'll just pass the phone to her," said the weapon while the sound of a phone passing from one hand to another was heard in Dante's phone.

Another girl was on the other end now, and she said, "H-hello? Mister Dante?"

"Who is this?" replied the red-coated man, uninterested.

"M-my name's Tsubaki," said the busty black-haired girl shyly. "I'm Black Star's weapon partner…"

"Black Star?" asked Dante.

"Y-yes… the boy who fought you yesterday…"

"Oh, him," said the man as an image of the boy's spiky blue hair appeared in his mind. "What happened?"

"I… I wanted to apologize for his behavior yesterday…" said the girl nervously. "Black Star is… a little hard-headed, and he doesn't usually think before act—"

"Hold on a minute, kid," interrupted Dante, who was receiving another call. "Revenant? Why're _you_ calling me, too?"

"Yeah, shaddup, Dante," replied Black Star's voice in a slightly irritated tone. "I was talking to Mohawk here about yesterday and he said I should talk to you…"

"Is this about yesterday?" asked the white-haired man, surprised.

"More or less," replied the boy. "First I wanted to ask if your soul really was half-Angel…"

"You mean and Anti-Demon Grigori Soul?" corrected Dante. "Yeah, it is; Stein must've mentioned it to you, huh?"

"Well, Maka did," answered Black Star. "She wouldn't shut up about how 'awesome' it was that you had a half-Kishin, half-Grigori soul and that you could keep your Kishin half in check or whatever…"

"Is that what you were gonna talk about?"

"S-shut up! I was gonna say I'm sorry for yesterday!"

* * *

**Phew~! that took a while~! Anyways, it seems that the Star-man is... apologizing?! (didn't see THAT one coming) and it's a certain camellia's birthday, which will continue in the next chapter~~ oh, and I'm sorry if this chapter seems a bit disorganized, but sometimes, that's how it goes... (that sounds a bit asshole-y of me, huh...) still, I promise we'll clear up the mess in the next chapter! don't stop reading just cause I screwed up a bit! Q^Q**

**_Humbert_**


	6. Birthday Bash!

"Happy birthday, Tsubaki!"

"A-ah, thanks!"

Maka, Liz and Patty rushed to hug their black-haired friend while Soul and Kid watched from a few feet away, but the former seemed preoccupied with something else. Kid looked at his red-eyed friend and asked, "Is everything all right, Soul?"

"I don't see Black Star anywhere," muttered Soul, looking around.

"He's probably looking for the cake, Soul," replied Kid, shrugging. "We did order a big one."

"Black Star did, not me," replied the white-haired boy with a chuckle. "Still, you'd think he wouldn't take his time for his own partner's birthday, don't you think?"

"He did arrive two hours late for yours, and you're his best friend," commented the young Shinigami.

"Yeah, but he arrived with…" he looked at the girls that were giggling while chatting with each other and his pupils dilated to become dots.

"What?" asked Kid, who didn't understand what Soul meant.

* * *

"I didn't ask you to tag along."

"If there's a party and food, you bet I'm going!"

"Didn't I tell you to piss off a few times already?"

"Watch the language, boy."

Black Star scowled while carrying an enormous box towards Kid's mansion, but he wasn't alone. Dante and his crew were walking right behind him, and the white-haired man had a gluttonous expression in his face. Black Star wasn't too pleased with the situation, however.

"Tsubaki won't wanna see you," he bluffed, trying to make the group leave.

"We wanna know your crew better," said Rebellion while adjusting his glasses. "This is a good chance to make friends!"

"And to eat," chuckled Artemis after Cerberus barked twice. "Let's hope there's some good meat for the pooch."

"Goddammit…" said Black Star with a grimace.

The Shinigami Manor appeared before their eyes, and the gates opened by themselves, allowing the group to enter. Black Star wondered if Dante had an ulterior motive for crashing the party, but they all seemed as illogical as they sounded ridiculous, so he dismissed the thought. Dante whistled lowly when he saw the mansion up close. Kid obviously made the manor look symmetrical, but had done a marvelous job at it, for the mansion looked like it belonged to a God of Death. Black Star kicked on the door instead of knocking because his hands were full, and Liz answered the door.

"Hey, Black Star," she greeted happily before noticing the crowd behind him. "I see you brought guests."

"I didn't—" the blue-haired young man began to protest, but the cyan-haired boy named Rudra interrupted him.

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "We are honored to be received in your household."

"We'll be gracious guests," added Agni with a smile.

"We won't cause any trouble," promised Rudra.

"We'll only eat the food when we're allowed to," vowed Agni.

"We also brought a gift," said Rudra, pulling out a small, thin box.

"HEY! THAT'S MINE, LITTLE BASTARD!" shouted Black Star, kicking the cyan-haired boy in the stomach.

"Oi, leave my brother alone!" shouted Agni, who set his hand on fire and was ready to attack, but Nevan stepped in front of him.

"That's enough, you two," said she while putting her hands on her hips. "And Rudra, give the gift box back. We don't want a fight in front of the birthday girl."

"Oh, I'm not the birthday girl," said Liz while a drop of sweat rolled down her forehead. "But come in; we don't wanna spoil the cake outside…"

With that said, she let the whole troupe in, and told Black Star where to place the cake so they could all sing "Happy Birthday" together, which the blue-haired Meister didn't find pleasant at all. He insisted that he hadn't brought Dante and his weapons, but Liz was paying more time to the hunter's physique than her friend. The boy gave up and went to greet Soul and Kid, who were looking at him suspiciously.

"What?" asked the blue-haired Meister when he noticed his friends' looks.

"What took you so long?" asked Soul.

"Since when are you friends with Dante?" added Kid, who noticed the new visitor.

"He's not my friend!" said Black Star, starting to lose his cool. "The asshole just decided to crash the party!"

"Maka doesn't seem to mind, though," muttered the white-haired boy, who was looking at his pigtailed Meister partner interviewing the white-haired man. "I wonder what she's asking him, though…"

Maka was excited to talk personally to Dante, but the white-haired man wasn't that engaged into the conversation.

"So how come you're not tempted into becoming a full-fledged Kishin?" the girl asked.

"Cause I don't feel like it," muttered the man, uninterested. When he saw the girl's slightly disappointed expression, he added, "Besides, I have half an Angel Soul that cancels the Demon Wavelength, so I guess that also neutralizes me…"

"Awesome! I have a Grigori Soul as well!" exclaimed the girl happily. "Does your brother also resist the Madness with his Grigori Soul?"

Dante's eye twitched at the mention of Vergil; Artemis, who was drinking soda in a corner, noticed her Meister's attitude and quickly made her way to assist him. When she was close enough, she called at the sandy-haired girl.

"Hey, King girl!"

"Huh?" Maka turned her head and noticed the purple-haired girl approaching and, unable to recall her name, replied, "Oh, Poe fan!"

"Heh, my name's Artemis," chuckled the older girl while adjusting her glasses and shaking Maka's hand.

"Maka," replied the green-eyed girl with a smile. "What's up?"

"Oh, um," Artemis wasn't prepared to start a conversation, but she quickly improvised. "I was wondering if you read comic books."

"Comic books?" Maka looked uncomfortable. "That's more Soul's domain…"

"Soul?"

"Yeah, Soul Eater; my partner."

"That's a pretty lousy name, if you ask me," commented Artemis lowly.

"Well, he is a weapon…" said Maka with a faltering smile.

"What's his form?"

"He's the last Death Scythe… and a literal one at that."

"Nice job, then!" Artemis was impressed to meet the person who forged the last Death Scythe before the Shibusen-Witch alliance.

"What about you, Artemis?" asked Maka. "What's your form?"

"I'm a gun… I guess…" Artemis looked unsure as to what her weapon form was. "I'd say it's also an arm-brace… but I could also be a dart-gun…"

"Why don't you show me?" asked Maka, who was unsure as to whether laugh at the girl or feel sorry for her.

"That'd be better," replied Artemis before leaping and transforming into a silver arm-brace/gun, which fell rather heavily on the sandy-haired girl's left arm. "Whoops, sorry!"

"It's ok; I can handle it," replied the green-eyed girl while struggling to hold the weapon in her hand. "Cool! What kinda projectiles do you shoot?"

Before Artemis could reply, however, Black Star's voice interrupted her.

"All right, everyone!" he hollered. "It's time to sing Happy Birthday to Tsubaki!"

* * *

"Welcome back, Sid," said Spirit Albarn while sitting in the Death Room in Shibusen. "Did you hear the news?"

A tall blue-skinned zombie with black dreadlocks shook the Death Scythe's hand and replied, "So it's true that the half-Kishin came back?"

"Only one of them," answered Spirit. "But don't worry; Dante seems much more fun now than when he left."

"Dante, huh?" Sid Barett's partner, Nygus, stroke her chin pensively. "No sign of Vergil?"

"By the sound of it, the Sparda twins had a quarrel and a parting," shrugged Spirit. "But Dante took a job here, so at least we won't have to worry about Vergil coming back to resurrect Asura…"

"How do you think he'll react when he finds out he's gone?" asked Sid, whose undead face contorted into a smirk.

"He'll probably try and best whoever did it…" analyzed Nygus.

* * *

"…and only I'm awesome enough to have the best partner in the world!" Black Star finished his birthday speech to Tsubaki, and everyone present applauded his failed but honest attempt at driving everyone's attention to someone other than himself. The blue-haired boy then hugged his partner tightly and said, "Happy birthday, Tsubaki-chan."

"B-Black Star," the busty black-haired girl was speechless at her partner's full dedication to her during that special day, and she hugged him back.

In a corner, Dante was grabbing a drink and sharing it with Revenant and Rebellion. He looked slightly disgusted at the pair, and Revenant noticed.

"You okay, Dante?" asked the man with the Mohawk.

"I wish Lady could hug me like that…" replied Dante with a hiccup.

"He's drunk again…" remarked Rebellion to Revenant, and the two men grabbed Dante by the arms and were about to drag him out of the mansion, but the twin boys Agni and Rudra rushed in front of the trio and tripped Dante. "Goddammit, kids! Hold still!" Rebellion smacked the boys' heads and made them help Dante up.

Maka noticed the crowd was diminishing in size, and she quickly ran to the front door to see who was leaving the Shinigami Manor; she quickly caught up to Artemis and asked her why her group was leaving.

"Dante's drunk again," replied the purple-haired woman with a disappointed face. "I know you guys aren't too much into booze—"

"Well, it's more like we know someone who makes the booze go super-effective…" Maka remembered that the previous week she had sent the cat-witch Blair to explore the Witches' Realm with Kim, but the pinkette had returned cat-less. But that story could wait for another day, Maka thought, and she went to accompany Dante and his troupe out of the mansion, when suddenly…

"THE LITTLE BASTARD!"

Black Star rushed at incredible speed and tackled Rudra to the ground, quickly removing a familiar box from his person and yelling triumphantly, "You thought you could just pull that trick off again, could you?!"

"Oi, get offa the kid!" shouted Dante, who quickly straightened himself up and punched the blue-haired young man in the face, sending him reeling.

"Dante?" Rebellion, Revenant and Beowulf were surprised to see their Meister partner so steady after them having to carry him out of the mansion. Then again, this wouldn't be the first time the white-haired man pretended to be drunk just to get out of a party he found unamusing. Artemis' hand found its way to her frustrated forehead.

Maka looked at her childhood friend, about to reprimand him, but kept quiet when she realized that box was the very gift the blue-haired assassin had asked her to keep safe in her closet until the party arrived. She looked back at Dante, who was reprimanding Rudra for stealing, but the cyan-haired boy looked away in disrespect.

Tsubaki came out of Shinigami Manor's main building and into the courtyard to check on her hot-blooded partner, and Black Star looked back at her for half a second before realizing she was there. He uncharacteristically stumbled to his feet and walked to his raven-haired partner, who looked at him curiously. He mumbled something that made her eyes widen while he presented the box to her, which Rudra scowled at. The birthday girl didn't open the box, though; her arms wrapped around her partner tightly and her lips met his cheek quickly.

* * *

Dante punched a hole in his apartment wall. Rebellion had never seen his friend this angry at nothing he knew about before, but he knew that face was only made whenever Vergil and Dante met. The claymore then thought to himself that Dante's older twin wasn't around anymore; the defeat of Nero Angelo was certain proof of that. Finally out of any possibilities for what could make his Meister partner so wrathful, he decided to ask him.

"What the hell, Dante?"

"I dunno, man." Dante ran a hand through his hair in frustration, but he didn't know what else to do. "That kid is seriously incorrigible…"

"Who, Rudra?" Rebellion shrugged and rolled his eyes. "I told you that crashing a party was the worst idea you could have today."

"What? No!" Dante shook his head quickly. "They were practicing their stealth; that's much better than having to listen to them—"

"You idiot; you don't tell Agni or Rudra to practice pickpocketing!"

"I still hate his guts!"

"Who the hell are you talking about?!"

"Black Star!"

Rebellion's glasses slipped to the tip of his nose, and the man thought that maybe his partner wasn't entirely sober after all. He adjusted his lenses and sighed deeply before saying, "Go to sleep, moron."

"Yeah, I'll do that…" Dante deepened the hole in the wall before stomping into the room that the men shared.

The black-haired man groaned and decided to go for a walk in the city. After walking for a few blocks, he saw a shadow he immediately recognized as Nevan's (who wouldn't forget those tantalizing curves?) slipping away. He accelerated his pace and caught up with her after a minute or two and called her out softly.

"Psst, Nevan!"

"Oh?" Nevan turned around and easily recognized her ally and companion. "What're you doing here, Rebellion?"

"I figured I should walk around now that our friend went to bed…"

"Was he really drunk, though?"

"I think so," replied the green-eyed man with a shrug. "I've never seen him so pissed at a kid. Especially when he knew the kid was in the right this time."

"Who the hell taught Rudra to pickpocket?" wondered the redheaded woman aloud, and Rebellion nodded austerely.

"Anyways," continued the attractive man, "what're you doing here, Nevan?"

"I work at the cabaret," replied the Demon Guitar with slight coyness in her tone.

"Figures," muttered the Claymore while he crossed his arms. "I guess you didn't want Dante to know?"

"It's not like he's not gonna visit it, though." Nevan shrugged with a smirk and looked at her friend in the eye.

"Whatever." Rebellion made as to resume his way, and Nevan followed closely. After a short chat, the pair made it to a flower shop, where Rebellion bought a bouquet of camellias.

"Who're those for?" asked Nevan, interested.

"The birthday girl," replied Rebellion flatly.

"Don't let Artemis see you with her," teased the redhead before bidding the man farewell through a kiss in the cheek.

"Don't be silly; I'm gonna apologize for Dante," replied the green-eyed man while the pair parted ways.

* * *

"Is it just me, or is everyone being too nice today?" asked Soul aloud while he and Maka saw Rebellion leave their doorstep—it had been ten minutes since his encounter with Nevan—, headed to Black Star and Tsubaki's apartment.

"Well, Tsubaki does deserve an especially good treatment today, you know." Maka put her hands on her hips and stared at the man's well-built figure while the view lasted.

"Yeah, but even the Star-man was being… well…"

"A little out of character? Yeah, I noticed it too." The sandy-haired girl remembered how bashful Black Star had looked earlier that day when he handed his very special gift to his partner. "Maybe they do like each other?"

"How many times have we been over this, Maka?" chuckled the white-haired boy.

"Pretty much since you met him," replied the giggling green-eyed girl.

* * *

**FINALLY! XDDD man, we procrastinated a bit on this one... sowwy~! but Tsubaki's birthday was a pretty special occasion, and we didn't wanna ruin it with a fight... :P maybe next time, folks~~**

**So what did Black Star give to Tsubaki as her present? (seriously, I wanna read your guesses-post them as reviews!)**

**Was Dante really drunk, or was he just high? Why the hell is Blair still in the Witches' Realm?! (I think Klaus doesn't know what she'll do in this series, so that's why she's still left out) How do you think Tsubaki will react to dat sexy-ass Rebellion sending her a bouquet of flowers?!**

**All this and more in the next chapter of Kishin May Cry~~!**

**~Humbert**

**PS. I think it's kinda obvious that we're trying our best to mix both Dantes for this series, if our dear readers hadn't noticed already...**


	7. Fire Flies

"Why the hell're you here…?"

"The mission said it required two Meisters and I figured I'd be enough."

"You bastard, I'm more than enough by myself!"

"So'm I, so beat it!"

"YOU BEAT IT!"

Dante and Black Star started yelling at each other while they walked down a deserted mining camp, followed by the pair's weapons, all of which were trying to ignore their Meisters' argument by either chatting or taking in the ruinous scenery. Artemis and Nevan were trying to hold a conversation with Tsubaki, but the raven-haired young woman was too shy to talk to the more experienced weapons. Rebellion was holding Cerberus on a leash to prevent the three-headed canine from attacking the blue-haired Meister whose voice was starting to rise above Dante's. Revenant was smoking a cigar while chatting with Agni and Rudra because he had nothing else to do. Eventually, the group stopped in the center of town, though the young men were still insulting and flipping off each other.

"…and you're so lame you let your shop get blown to bits more than once!"

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Rebellion finally lost his temper, which surprised Dante and Black Star. "Sheesh, can't you two just not talk to each other if all you do is arguing all the time?"

Tsubaki looked worried at her partner, who had crossed his arms and looked away, and was about to approach him when Nevan stopped her.

"Say, can't you leave your boyfriend alone for a bit?" said the curvaceous redhead. "He's only a few yards away, and I can promise you that Rebellion won't let the morons fight…"

"Speaking of Rebellion, where did he go last night?" Artemis wondered aloud to her companion. Tsubaki's cheeks flushed when she remembered what had happened.

* * *

"Don't worry, Tsubaki; I'll get it!"

The door had been knocked on, and Black Star stood up to answer. He opened the door and saw the familiar sight of Rebellion outside, but holding a bouquet of flowers. The black-haired man scratched the back of his head and said, "Hey… Can we talk a bit?"

"Aren't you the guy that tags along that white-haired dickwad?" asked the blue-haired young man with a stone face.

"That dickwad is a bit of a basket case, but I'm there to keep him straight," replied Rebellion. "Anyways, I was gonna apologize for the kids' behavior today. I made sure they were punished for their pickpocketing today… and I brought your Shibusen I.D."

Black Star's eyes widened when the visitor pulled out a white card with two silver stars emblazoned in the center and the rest of the typical information one would find in a regular school or college I.D. He immediately snatched the card and put it in his wallet without thanking Rebellion, who chuckled at the boy.

"Well, I guess I should say 'apology accepted,' then." Black Star said after a short pause, and he scratched his own chest while looking up at the visitor. He pointed at the bouquet of camellias and asked, "What's with the flowers?"

"They're for your girlfriend." The black-haired man said while extending the bouquet to the blue-haired Meister. "I heard it's her birthday, so I kinda wanted to compensate…"

"She's not my girlfriend, you moron." Black Star's cheeks turned pink while he grabbed the bouquet. "But I'll tell Tsubaki you came here. Thanks, I guess."

"No problem," said the Claymore while turning around and waving lazily at Black Star.

The spiky-haired young man closed the door and turned around to see his blue-eyed partner shyly witnessing the events from around the corner that led to the pair's shared bedroom, and he walked to her while offering the camellias to her.

"There you go," said Black Star while looking away. "I'm not the only one that appreciates your assistance…"

"Oh, Black Star." Tsubaki wrapped her arms around her partner's neck and hugged him tightly. "You've given me the best birthday of my life!"

* * *

Black Star and Dante were brooding and with their backs turned to each other, having reached the mission's site. Neither of the men wanted to work with the other, but it was too late to do anything about it, so they had to reluctantly endure each other's company. Rebellion walked over to Tsubaki and whispered in her ear.

"Did you like my present?" he asked. The Demon Arm girl blushed deeply and nodded quickly, making the Claymore smirk. "Just in case, I did know about your name's meaning; I learned Japanese with Yamato in Shibusen."

"W-who's Yamato?" The raven-haired girl was sure Maka must've mentioned the name before already, but she couldn't recall to whom the name belonged.

"Yamato's the name of Vergil's weapon partner," answered Artemis, who appeared from seemingly out of nowhere with an odd glare at Rebellion. "Yamato and Rebellion were really close friends, and their partners… were just an added bonus to their friendship."

"Dante wasn't an added bonus, Artemis!" Rebellion was indignant at the purple-haired woman's comment. "We were the Fearsome Foursome! All of Shibusen respected us equally! We were… best friends." The black-haired man's green eyes saddened when he remembered an event that had taken place many years ago.

"Are you okay, M-Mister Rebellion?" Tsubaki stammered and took pity on the man, who was shedding a tear to lost memories.

"I-it's just the ashes and stuff around here…" muttered the man while wiping the tear away. "I get allergic and stuff…"

"Awww, Rebellion!" Artemis hugged her partner from behind. "You're so cute like that!"

"Mister Rebellion!" called Agni, who was running with Rudra and Revenant towards Dante. "No time for love; we got company!"

"About time he showed up," muttered Dante and Black Star at the same time, and their weapons rushed to their side, battle-ready. The blue-haired man looked at his white-haired companion and said, "Don't you have guns and gloves?"

"Left them at home," answered Dante before jumping at the incoming figure, who seemed to be a man wearing a gas mask, armor, and a jetpack with wings and wielded a flamethrower in his hands. "YAHOO!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Black Star was irritated and extended his hand to Tsubaki. "Chain Scythe Mode!"

Dante's legs were much stronger than any ordinary human's, and they propelled him much higher than any athlete's jump could ever hope to reach. He summoned a transparent demonic platform for him to use for a second jump, and pulled out Revenant in his shotgun form before shooting the man at almost point-blank; the target, however, quickly fired his flamethrower to use the hot air to lift himself out of harm's way.

"He's not bad," commented Revenant. "He knew where my range ended!"

"We gotta get him down from there!" shouted Nevan. "We don't have many options while he's in the air!"

"That's true," Artemis agreed. "May I recommend the next course of action?"

"Are you locked on?" asked Dante while he pulled out the silver gun from his left holster and aimed at the Firefly.

"Ready and waiting!"

Dante channeled his soul's wavelength through Artemis, who released it as a pink ball of energy that stayed in the air for a second before rushing at its target. While Artemis' bullet hit, Dante pulled out the purple guitar and played a fast arpeggio that released a violet-hued lightning bolt that struck at the flamethrower-wielder, who lost altitude because his jetpack started to fail. The red-coated man didn't stop there, though. Firefly started firing his flamethrower at Dante, but the latter pulled out Agni and Rudra to control the flames and use the wind to bring the target down, respectively.

In the meantime, Black Star noticed that the man Dante was fighting wasn't the only Firefly in the vicinity; about six more had joined the battle, and the blue-haired Meister wasn't going to let his guard down. Using the chain-scythe in his hands, he quickly lassoed down one of the targets and pulled himself towards him while the man tried to go back into the air. When the Assassin reached his victim, he quickly sliced him apart using his weapon's blades; he immediately aimed at another of the Fireflies and, after Tsubaki changed her mode into that of an enormous shuriken, threw his weapon at the next target and impaled him with one of the shuriken's points while dodging fire from the next of his targets.

Dante pulled out his tripartite nunchaku and started to successively land hits on his target, congealing him before he pulled out his shotgun and blasted him to pieces. The white-haired man sighed and smirked.

"That was dope," he said with a chuckle. "I wonder why the Star-kid let me take his target down, though…"

"Maybe it's because there's more than one target?" suggested Rebellion in a tone that didn't sound at all like a suggestion.

"Well, that makes sense," muttered the Meister with a shrug. He immediately pulled out Artemis again and aimed it at one of the Fireflies that Black Star hadn't taken out yet. "Prepare a Kablooey dart, Artemis," he commanded.

"Done; fire at will," replied the silver arm brace/gun. Dante fired an orange dart that latched onto one of the Firefly's wings before pulling out Nevan and playing three chords that created an electric shield around him that protected him from an incoming fireball from behind him. In an instant, Agni and Rudra were in his hands, and he slashed at nothing with the twin scimitars before a second fireball appeared in front of him and blasted one of the men down. Rebellion appeared in Dante's hand, and the white-haired man thrust forwards to finish off the second of his targets.

Black Star had climbed onto one of the Fireflies and stabbed him with Tsubaki's Ninja Dagger mode before jumping off and swinging to safety with his partner's Chain-Scythe mode after the last target left started firing at him. Suddenly, the man's jetpack exploded and the man fell to the ground. Black Star and Dante both took the chance and slashed the man apart with the chain-scythe and claymore, respectively, and a loud "YAHOO!"

Tsubaki and Rebellion both held onto the Kishin Egg that was left of the last man standing, and the girl blushed heavily and let go quickly. Rebellion looked confused and offered the red soul to the blue-eyed girl, whose cheeks reddened more. Black Star walked towards the glasses-wearing man with a dark scowl and smashed the Kishin Egg into his face, muttering, "Tsubaki's already got more than all of you had today, put together."

* * *

Liz, Patty, Ebony, and Ivory were laughing as they walked out of the movie theater. The two sets of sisters had watched a movie about dancing and they had lots of fun staring at the many shirtless guys that were showing off their muscles in the highly choreographed scenes. They were talking about the movie's plot and characters, though Patty was more focused on the moves than anything else, as evidenced when she performed a complicated pirouette similar to one that appeared in the movie and successfully landed it in the first try, impressing Ebony and Ivory. Liz and Ebony then started talking about which of the men in the movie was the most attractive, and both of the women started pulling legitimate arguments about why one guy was more attractive than the other. They suddenly bumped into Beowulf, who greeted the four girls politely. Dante's guns introduced him to the Thompson sisters, and the five walked together to eat dinner by Beowulf's treat.

"You're really nice and cute!" said Patty with a smile. "I wish Kid was like that with us all the time!"

"Patty!" Liz looked at her sister with a stern expression. "Kid is a good guy! It's just that his OCD goes before anything else to him…"

"He ain't the nicest person when that happens, though," replied the younger sister while poking her tongue at Liz.

"Kid has OCD?" asked Ivory, interested. "What's his obsession?"

"Symmetry," answered the Thompsons with a grimace. Liz added, "He's got the Madness of Order, so if there's anything asymmetrical in front of him, he'll try to fix it."

Ebony and Ivory looked at each other and smirked. Ebony turned to Liz and, still grinning, said, "Well, you and your sis aren't exactly identical twins, you know."

"I know." The older Thompson rolled her eyes. "Fortunately, Patty and I are pretty much the same gun when we transform."

"Ebby and I are similar," Ivory commented. "Except Ebby's a black gun and I'm a white gun…"

"Ivy's not being racist here," added Ebony when she noticed the face Liz and Patty made. "I do turn into a black gun—here." The dark-skinned girl transformed into a black gun that landed in Ivory's hand and immediately turned back when Beowulf noted that someone was looking at them weirdly from another table.

* * *

Black Star, Dante, and their respective weapons were riding the train back to Death City after the mission was over. Dante and his weapons were taking up two compartments, and they were chatting and having a good time. Black Star and Tsubaki, on the other hand, were silent. The blue-haired boy was looking out the window with his arms crossed, and the black-haired girl was looking at her lap with her hands between her knees. They both sighed at the awkward silence and the Meister decided to speak up.

"We did awesome today, didn't we?"

"Oh? Y-yeah…" The weapon seemed to be thinking about something other than the mission.

"Remember when we grappled to that guy? For a second there I thought I was gonna pull him down, but you held up pretty nicely!"

"B-Black Star? Can we not talk about the mission?" Tsubaki asked nervously.

"O-oh, sure. Whaddaya wanna talk about, then?" asked the boy while stretching his well-built arms.

"Why d'you hate him?"

"He's annoying and he has a bigger mouth than me."

Dante and Rebellion were in the train's hallway, away from the rest of the group, and talking with solemn expressions. The raven-haired man rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration, and the white-haired man crossed his arms.

"What is it, Rebellion?"

"You guys are so alike…"

"We are not!"

Black Star punched his seat angrily, and Tsubaki quickly shied away from him. Noticing the fear in his busty partner's face, the assassin's expression changed from annoyance to worry. He vented his rage through a loud sigh.

"I-I'm sorry, Black Star…" said Tsubaki, but the green-eyed boy raised his hand to shush her.

"Don't apologize; I overreacted…" The boy looked out the window again, but this time he didn't seem willing to talk again; the indigo-eyed girl sighed as well and stood up. Black Star grabbed her wrist and, without looking at her, said, "Please stay… I dunno how much more I can take of that moron…"

"Sheesh, Dante, are you having a homo moment?"

"Shaddup, you jackass! I'm just saying that I might pick a good fight with him, and you know that next time I mightn't be so generous…"

Rebellion rolled his eyes and replied, "That's what I'm here for, I guess…" before shaking Dante's hand off his shoulder and walking back to the compartment he shared with Nevan and Artemis.

Dante chuckled and muttered, "Though I DID have him inside me more than once already…"

Tsubaki, who had excused herself to go to the bathroom, overheard that last sentence and blushed deeply with perverted thoughts.

* * *

**Phew~! glad we finished this chapter before the work-week started! ^^ I was telling Klaus to put Berial in the story, but he reminded me that he was already slain by Dante in DMC4... so I decided to look for another fire-based villain while playing Batman: Arkham Origins, and there's where I got the idea to make many Fireflies to try and damage a village about as much as the real Berial would... but I think that could be considered either author trivia or mini-spoiler, so I won't talk about that anymore~~**

**It seems that Black Star and Dante's chemistry still ain't working, huh? Poor Rebellion and Tsubaki, having to deal with those two morons :P so what'll happen next between those two? Will the sparks fly and the fire start, or will their weapon partners manage to cool their blood down before anything happens~~? (I hope it's the former; I wanna see a good fight! :3 )**

**Beowulf seems to have gotten himself a harem as well, huh~? will he take advantage, or is his remaining eye as love-and-lust-blind as many anime characters' pairs of eyes?**

**None of these questions will be answered in the next chapter, but some of the ones you may ask might be~! so if you have any doubts, don't be coy~! I don't bite... most of the time~!**

**~Humbert**


	8. After the Mission

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

Dante and Revenant were competing to see which one drank five liters of the latter's favorite German beer the fastest, and the rest of the overage weapons and the bar's visitors were cheering them on. Dante's eyes were closed tightly, finding the taste of the beer too strong for his liking; Revenant, however, was smirking at his Meister from behind his giant mug while a few drops of the drink escaped his mouth due to the overflow in his mouth. Spirit Albarn was part of the crowd and he was holding Nevan and Blair by the waist while they all laughed at the scene. Rebellion was the contest's judge, and when Revenant proudly smashed his mug against the table, he declared his companion the winner. Dante, however, didn't stop until he finished his drink as well. The men burped loudly and bumped fists while the crowd celebrated the Mohawk man's victory. Revenant stood up and bowed at the bar's owner before flexing his tattooed arms playfully at Dante, who crossed his arms and looked away with a grin.

"You still have a ways to go before you can beat me, Dante!" called the shotgun to his red-clad Meister, who chuckled and shook his head.

"I'll get you next time, sucker," replied the white-haired man while shaking off a few strands that were getting in his eyesight. All the ladies there sighed at the gorgeous sight.

* * *

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Black Star and Kid were fighting hand-to-hand in the latter's mansion, surrounded by a crowd of students. Even though Black Star had theoretically all the advantage, Kid was overpowering him using his more extensive knowledge of martial arts and his Shinigami powers, both of which were allowed in this battle. The Assassin wasn't giving up, though; his high stamina and attack power was almost a match for the young Shinigami's defense and agility. Eventually, however, Kid blocked a kick from Black Star and performed a Judo throw before pinning him down in a tight lock that was drawing the blue-haired boy's breath quickly. This last act forced Black Star to tap out, making Kid the winner of this match.

"I'll get you next time, Kid!" called the assassin while the Thompson sisters hugged their Meister in celebration. "Remember I'll surpass the gods!"

"I don't doubt you eventually will, Black Star," replied the black-and-white-haired youngster with a smirk. "But for now, I'm still better! Keep practicing!"

Black Star smiled his cheeky smile and went to put his shirt and scarf back on, both of which were held by his black-haired partner Tsubaki. When the busty weapon saw her partner approaching her with sweat rolling down his toned abdomen, she blushed and looked away until he was done dressing. Unfortunately for the Nakatsukasa princess, the blue-haired boy's shirt clung to his skin due to the amount of sweat he produced, and his features were still rather noticeable. Soul and Maka approached the pair, and the red-eyed boy shared a high-five with the green-eyed boy.

"Not bad," said the shark-toothed boy. "Though I didn't expect Kid to pull out a move like that."

"In a fight, you must be ready for anything, Soul," replied Black Star wisely. "But you should already know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Soul chuckled and looked at Maka and Tsubaki, both of whom were chatting happily about something unintelligible due to the crowd that lingered after the fight. "So how'd your mission go?"

Black Star grimaced as if he had just met Excalibur again, which befuddled Soul.

"Don't tell me…"

"That asshole Dante was there…" Black Star completed the sentence for his friend, but Soul looked surprised at that statement.

"Dante was there?" he asked, amazed. "That's so awesome! I wanna take a mission with him!"

"He's a douche and he's annoying," commented the irritated blue-haired boy. "And he thinks he can take MY missions!"

"I think he's pretty cool," replied Soul with a shrug, and Black Star's glare intensified. "What? I don't understand why you hate him so much; you guys are like twins!"

"I hate that guy!"

Ebony and Ivory were surprised to hear Dante say he hated anyone, since he usually just flipped them off for fun. Dante's face, however, just expressed annoyance.

"How come, Dante?" asked Ivory while raising a brow. "That kid seems to have an ego as big as yours…"

"Not to mention he's good-looking," added Ebony into her sister's ear, and both girls giggled.

Dante, however, didn't hear that last statement and snapped. "You girls know very damn well I can't stand a guy with a bigger mouth than mine! He thinks he can surpass God!"

"You used to say that sometimes when we were in Shibusen, Dante." Rebellion entered the room after hearing his white-haired Meister shout. "And will you lower your voice? The kids and the pooch are trying to sleep."

"Sorry," replied the Meister with a non-apologetic tone.

"Still, Dante, can't you just talk to the kid about how you feel?" asked Rebellion. "It might help you sort your differences…"

"That kid'll probably rub his ego in my face!" muttered Dante, rolling his eyes.

* * *

The next morning, Tsubaki was waiting for Black Star to enter the classroom on time for once. Of course, the bell rang and the blue-haired hothead was nowhere to be seen, so she sighed and, as usual, entered the classroom with Soul and Maka. Stein was writing a few things on the board, but the black-haired girl didn't pay any attention as she walked to her usual spot in the classroom, wondering what on earth her hotheaded partner would be planning for an entrance to this class. The grey-haired professor's creepy monotone pulled her out of her reverie.

"Good morning, class," he said while twisting the bolt on his head with a loud CRANK! "As you may know, we've had a visitor in the past week. Don't be alarmed; he won't be leaving anytime soon…" When he said that his glasses' lenses reflected the sunlight that entered through a window and glared creepily. "I still need to cut open that Cerberus…"

"Umm, Professor Stein?" Maka raised her hand with a flat expression. "I don't think Dante will let you get close to that dog…"

"Not while he's awake, he won't," replied Stein with a smirk that deformed his facial stitches and made a shiver run down everyone's spines. "Anyways, I was gonna talk today about some of the many job options that graduates from the school may have, besides the usual Death Scythe duties." Stein nodded toward Soul and Maka, who looked proud at their mention.

Tsubaki looked out the window, hoping to see Black Star's hands climbing—or any part of him that reassured her that the boy was near—the window. Alas, she found nothing and sighed, turning her attention back to the center of the amphitheater, where Stein's hands pointed at the door, where a certain red-clad, white-haired man walked in. Many a female sigh were drawn out as Dante, followed closely by Rebellion, Beowulf, and Revenant, looked at the class and winked.

"Good morning, class," said Beowulf with a polite bow that made more girls sigh. "My name is Beowulf, and these are Revenant, Rebellion, and Dante."

"Isn't Revenant another word for zombie?" muttered Stein, who was looking curiously at the Mohawk man with the tattoos in his arms. In that precise moment, Sid entered the classroom in a rush and walked over to the grey-haired man. "Speak of the devil… What is it, Sid?"

"Sorry to interrupt your class, Stein," replied the zombie loud enough for everyone in the classroom to hear. Sid then lowered his voice and whispered to his coworker. "Azusa arrived, and she's not looking pleased…"

"About time she did," commented Stein with his uninterested monotone, "but it seems she'll have to wait a little—"

"Holy crap, Sid!" said Dante, who put a hand on the blue-skinned man's shoulder and made him jump in surprise. "You feel colder than usual! And you look so blue! Did your girlfriend dump you?"

"H-hey, Dante." A drop of sweat rolled down Sid's forehead. "I almost didn't recognize you with the white hair…"

"Why does everyone keep talking about my hair?!" Dante looked at nowhere in particular and raised his hands in frustration, as if he was flipping an invisible table.

"Um, boss?" The eye-patch man looked back at his companion. "I was talking here…"

"Oh, right… Sorry!"

Rebellion chuckled as Beowulf kept explaining about the profession of the bounty hunter. He looked up and noticed a certain busty black-haired young woman who was sitting alone. He had an urge to fill the empty seat that no doubt belonged to that blue-haired kid that always dragged her around, but he stayed in his place because he knew it was his turn to talk after Beowulf was done.

Before the glasses-wearing man could open his mouth, however, someone yelled "YAHOO!" The claymore immediately looked at Dante, and was surprised to find that his white-haired friend wasn't the source of the rebellious yell. The ceiling blasted open, and Black Star landed in the center of the amphitheater, between the three weapons that were glaring at him.

"Your god, the Great Black Star, has blessed you the gift of light!" shouted the blue-haired hothead with a proud smile.

Revenant wasn't going to take any of Black Star's shenanigans, and he grabbed the boy by the overly long neck of his shirt and threw him to an empty seat in the classroom, which so happened to be his own. The blue-haired boy landed face-first into his seat, and Tsubaki looked at him shocked. Stein looked at the hole that the egotistical youth had made in the ceiling and muttered, "Well I did tell Kid this room needed a skylight…"

Revenant pulled out a cigar from his shirt's pocket and lit it up with his lighter. The mad scientist noticed the act and quickly walked to him while Rebellion resumed his speech and whispered, "Can I have a smoke?"

"Sure," replied the tattooed man as he pulled out another cigar and offered it to the gray-haired man. As soon as Stein put the cigar in his mouth, Revenant lit it up.

"Thanks," said the professor with honesty. After he inhaled a bit of the poisonous gas, he exhaled it in the form of a skull. He then muttered, "Man, I needed one of these."

"You're welcome." Revenant smirked as he took another puff of his cigar.

* * *

Half an hour later, the class was over and the students started walking out chatting about Dante and his weapons' class. Most of the girls were talking about the men who gave the class, and Rebellion was the name that came out the most. The guys were talking about how they wanted to be bounty hunters when they graduated to be as cool as Dante. Soul Eater and Maka Albarn were smirking because they didn't feel the pressure of being role models crush them so much. Soul liked being as cool as a demon hunter, but he knew from experience that Death Scythes also had to do a lot of paperwork and boring things that usually made him earn a Maka Chop for being lazy.

Black Star was pouting while he walked out from the classroom with Tsubaki by his side. The busty young woman was trying to comfort him because he had a bruise on his face formed when he landed on his chair. The blue-haired boy walked out of the school and was on his way to his apartment when two girls stopped him.

"How's it going, Black Star?" asked Ebony with a smirk while Ivory drank a bottle of soda.

"Uhh, I'm fine," answered the green-eyed boy, feeling awkward. "Aren't you Dante's guns?"

"Yeah, so?" Ivory winked at the boy, and Tsubaki stepped forward.

"Do you mind?" said the raven-haired girl with a frown. "We're gonna have lunch…"

"Then I hope you don't mind if we tag along," replied the dark-skinned girl with a naughty smirk. "We're starving and hoping this well-endowed man can show us some good places."

Ivory noticed the black-haired girl's expression and smirked. The guns had noticed the way the Demon Arm looked at her partner, but they both liked the young man as well. Ebony and Ivory decided that if Tsubaki hadn't made a move at Black Star, then they would. Of course, the blue-haired Meister would have to choose only one, so the sisters were ready to try anything to win the assassin's heart… and maybe his boxers, too.

* * *

**Phew~! Sorry if this chapter seems a little short and/or disappointing, but Klaus and I were studying for a Physics exam and decided to add a "filler chapter" so you wouldn't eat us alive XDDD **

**Anyways~~ Dante's guns like Black Star?! it seems a certain Demon Arm girl is gonna have either competition or an overcrowded room at nights~~ personally, I hope Black Star likes at least one of his three main fans back; it'd be sad if he was celibate... Also, I'm planning on having someone else have their fun with Dante in the next chapter~~ ...and by fun I mean taking a mission (get your mind outta the gutter!)**

**So, who do you think will take a mission with our favorite Demon Hunter? will Black Star tap on either the guns or his partner~~? why is Rebellion so damn attractive to the girls?! (though according to the school's poll, Dante and Rebellion officially tied for first for the hottest guy)**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter~~**

**~_Humbert_**


	9. Memories and Jealousies

Maka and Soul were eating their breakfast as quickly as possible; Blair the Cat looked at them curiously and asked, "Nya, why're you eating so fast?"

Maka gulped down the large bite of her pancakes she had in her mouth before answering, "We've a mission today, and I don't wanna be late!"

The purple cat blinked and looked at Soul. "What's the mission about?"

"There's this serial killer on the loose in Seattle," replied the red-eyed boy. "Some people believe he appears in nightmares only, but there've been waking witnesses too…"

"Anyways, this guy's activity has increased recently, and he's too dangerous for any normal Meister and Weapon team to take down," added Maka after drinking a whole glass of juice in five seconds, "so Papa decided to send a Death Scythe team to take him out."

"Ooh," purred Blair with a smile. "Sounds fun! May I go~?"

"Well…" Soul looked at Maka, wondering if she would approve.

"Sure," said the pigtailed girl after a pause. "We might need your magic assistance…"

* * *

"Well, well, well! How long has it been?"

"Fourteen years, five months, and three days."

"So you kept count, huh? Did you miss me in all that time, Azusa?"

"Oh please, Dante… Nobody would miss a black-haired idiot like you…"

"I changed my image, as you may have noticed."

Azusa Yumi smirked and looked at the red-clad man's hair before commenting, "You still look like an idiot."

"I know, Azusa," replied Dante with a shrug. "I'd still disobey your bossiness, though."

"I thought you left school for a reason," said the black-haired woman while she adjusted her glasses.

"Well, you weren't the reason," said the white-haired man with a naughty smirk and a husky voice that made the Death Scythe blush slightly.

"I see you haven't lost your touch," replied the woman while she looked away. "No wonder you always did better than Spirit with the girls."

Dante chuckled and looked at Rebellion, who was reading a novel with Artemis, who was eating an apple while accompanying her partner, then at Revenant, who was watching Agni and Rudra play with Cerberus, and finally at Beowulf, who was trying to play Nevan in her Guitar form. The white-haired man's eyes widened and he recounted his weapons quickly. Yes, eight of his ten weapons were present, and the missing two were his guns Ebony and Ivory. He had expected them to appear anytime soon, especially since he told them that Azusa had arrived a few days ago and would tell them about their next mission. It seemed he was wrong.

Rebellion looked up at Dante and asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, where're Ebony and Ivory?" asked Dante while he scratched his head. The black-haired Death Scythe next to him quickly moved away and went to chat with Revenant.

"I thought they'd arrive sooner," replied Artemis with a shrug. "I mean, I hoped they'd arrive so we'd all meet Miss Azusa…"

* * *

"Wake up, sleepyhead~~"

"Hm, what?"

"You have training to do today, remember?"

"WHOA!"

Black Star woke up with a jolt and noticed he was in the couch. He looked to his side and saw Ebony and Ivory kneeling next to him in before he remembered what had happened the previous night. The girls had invited Black Star to go eat something for the third time that week, and they had stayed chatting until past midnight. He had looked at his watch and decided it was time to go back home, so he had then invited Ebony and Ivory to spend the night at his and Tsubaki's place. Once they had made it to the apartment, the trio had spent three hours playing videogames before he suggested the girls took his bed while he slept in the couch. At least, that was the shortest summary of the events that he could concoct in his brain.

The sisters giggled when he stood up and stretched his shirtless body before he excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he entered—without knocking, by the way—, he bumped into Tsubaki, who was only wearing a towel and was grabbing her clothes to get dressed in the bathroom. They were both about to shout in surprise but they covered each other's mouth with their hands simultaneously and with a blush on their cheeks. Black Star looked behind himself and locked the door, now fully aware of what was going on.

"Ever heard of the lock, Tsubaki?" he whispered.

"Ever heard of knocking, Black Star?" she replied lowly.

"There was no sound from the bathroom and the door was unlocked!" said the blue-haired Meister. "Anyone would've thought it was empty!"

"S-so…?" the raven-haired girl looked away and covered herself more. "Anyone would've thought you had your 'fun' with those chicks…"

"Who, Ebony and Ivory?" asked the Assassin with a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The indigo-eyed girl looked away and quickly changed the subject. "What were you gonna do here, anyways?"

"I was gonna take a leak, but you still haven't answered my question," replied the green-eyed boy while he crossed his arms.

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" asked the darker girl to her lighter sister.

"He's probably admiring himself," replied the other one. "He does act like Dante most of the time…"

"I think he's better-looking, though," commented Ebony with a gleam in her eyes.

"I called dibs on him when we crossed him and his partner in Shibusen, remember?" reminded Ivory. The girls had passed Black Star and Tsubaki in their first day there, and they had giggled at him as they unknowingly went to the same destination as the Weapon-Meister pair.

"Say, weren't we supposed to be somewhere today, Ivy?" Ebony tapped her chin pensively, and her sister shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we were supposed to go somewhere with the gang today…"

"I don't know," answered the light-skinned sister. "Frankly, I don't care; I'd rather be with Black Star…"

"Not if I get him first," said the dark-skinned girl with a competitive tone. Both guns then closed the distance between their foreheads and glared at each other. "You think you can have him, huh?"

"Well, you don't stand a chance!" replied Ivory, gritting her teeth.

"That kinda guy prefers girls like me."

"Judging by his choice of weapon partners, I'd say he'd rather have me!"

"At least I know how to please any guy!"

"At least I don't sleep with any guy!"

"I don't sleep with any of my dates!"

"Then how do you know how to please a guy?"

"I read stuff, numbskull!"

Ebony and Ivory started quarrelling on Black Star and Tsubaki's couch like little kids fighting over candy.

* * *

"Sorry we're late, Miss Azusa!" said Maka while she and Soul caught their breath in front of the Death Scythe and Dante's troupe. "We got caught up in the apartment!"

Soul, who was wearing a bandage on his head, nodded in agreement and looked at Dante. "Hey, Dante," he greeted.

"Hey," said the older white-head with a smirk. "You must be Soul Eater, am I right?"

"Right you are," replied the younger white-head. "I'm glad we get to have a mission together."

"Likewise," answered the red-coated man with a nod. "It's been a while since I worked with a Scythe and his Meister."

Maka smiled and said, "Papa Death Scythe might've told you that Soul's a scythe, but I don't think he mentioned he's the last Death Scythe!"

"And I bet your old man's real proud of you, kiddo," replied Revenant while he, Agni and Rudra, and Cerberus joined the group. He looked at Dante and asked, "Where're Ebony and Ivory?"

"No idea," answered the cyan-eyed man with a shrug. "But we gotta go, so I don't think they'll be able to come to this one…"

"Just when we expected to need them most," added Nevan while she adjusted her black tank top, which tightened around her large breasts.

Azusa adjusted her glasses and looked austere. "Are the girls slacking off?"

"Well, they said they had a date last night," commented Rudra while he scratched his head. "I overheard them when they left. Maybe they're still with their date?"

"Thank goodness we have Mister Revenant here, though!" said Agni with a smile to the powerfully-built man, who smirked back at the boy in appreciation. "Shotguns are less likely to miss than pistols!"

"But that depends on the guy behind the shotgun, Agni," replied Rudra. "Dante never misses whether he has pistols or a shotgun!"

"Speaking of shotguns, I like the Spanish word for shotgun." Agni smiled in amusement.

"What's the word?" asked Rudra.

"'Escopeta,'" answered Agni with a chuckle. "It's pretty fitting, don't you think?"

"'Escopeta' sounds funnier than 'Shotgun.'" Rudra agreed and the boys kept talking about 'Shotgun' and its Spanish term as if it was the most amusing thing they'd ever heard.

Azusa looked uncomfortable as Dante surrounded her with his arm and held her close to him while he unbuttoned the black shirt he was wearing underneath his coat that day. It seemed that Dante couldn't keep his professional look for too long, but she couldn't blame him this time; the heat was starting to turn up and the group at Shibusen's entrance was getting tired of waiting for Ebony and Ivory. Rebellion looked around and sighed, and Beowulf was adjusting his eye patch again to prevent it from sticking to his face. Soul looked at his partner and then at his watch. It was half past noon and the guns didn't seem to be willing to arrive. Dante finally clapped his hands, catching everyone's attention.

"Well, then," said he. "I guess it's time to go!"

"But boss," Beowulf replied, "what about Ebony and Ivory?"

"They don't seem too keen on arriving, Beo," answered Nevan, who was now tying up her wavy red hair into a ponytail to try and keep her head cool.

"We'll bring them souvenirs!" said Agni, and Rudra concurred.

"Let's bring them something Seattle-y!"

"How about food?"

"Dante or the pooch will probably eat it…" Cerberus barked, and Rudra corrected himself. "I'm sorry, Cerberus."

"Should we send them a selfie, then?"

"Selfies are cliché and heartless, brother!"

"True…"

"Where the hell did you find those kids?" Soul asked Revenant with a grimace.

"Well…"

* * *

_"Brother, our guest is sighing…"_

_"SIGH? What is SIGH?"_

_"Well, a sigh is when—"_

_"Enough already! How long are you gonna carry on like that? In case you haven't noticed, your GUEST wants to go through!"_

_A younger Dante with an unbroken red coat and a cockier face looked irked while his weapons Ebony and Ivory, Rebellion, Revenant, and Cerberus looked slightly more amused than their Meister. Two headless golems, one red and one blue, rose from different columns and grabbed the scimitars in front of them while Dante and his then-smaller crew prepared for battle…_

* * *

"…and we fought 'em," finished Revenant while the group was riding the bus to the airport.

"Just like that?" asked the white-haired Death Scythe while raising an eyebrow. "You kicked their asses and the kids joined you?"

"Yup," answered Dante before Revenant opened his mouth. "But it was under one condition…"

"What was it?" asked Maka curiously.

"NO TALKING!" said Dante's crew in unison while Agni and Rudra's faces turned red and they quieted down.

Azusa smiled at the troupe's sense of humor and partnership, and looked out the window.

* * *

Tsubaki wasn't having a good day at all. First of all, she had to endure the gun sisters Ebony and Ivory giggling and talking to each other at an unholy hour (_'Who the hell talks until four in the morning?!'_ she thought to herself), then she found the sisters all over Black Star the next morning, then she was rudely intruded upon in her shower time by the same blue-headed idiot that seemed oblivious to Ebony and Ivory's affections, not to mention the awkward questions that came from that, and finally, she was now having to follow the three youngsters around like she was their babysitter.

At least, that's what she told herself for that last half hour.

She wasn't exactly babysitting the trio… at least, not to their knowledge. The raven-haired young lady was looking at them have fun in the nearby arcade from around a corner, unnoticed by even her Meister. Tsubaki mused that maybe that stealth training she had had had finally paid off, though not for the kind of situation she expected. Her stomach grumbled, and she realized she hadn't had lunch—something else that the Meister and guns had shared without her—and, sighing, she walked towards the nearest fast food restaurant.

While Tsubaki was in the line, a voice called her from behind.

"Heya, Tsu-chan!" said Patty's voice happily.

"How's it going, Tsubaki?" greeted Liz just as happily. When Tsubaki turned around to look at them, however, the older Thompson sister's expression changed. "What's wrong? Everything okay?"

"She's just hungry, sis!" said Patty with a compassionate smile—or whatever she could do in an attempt. "That's why she's here, no?"

"I figured you'd eat with Black Star, though," commented Liz. The Nakatsukasa heiress's expression signaled that she'd hit the nail in the head. "…I figured."

"Before either of you starts wailing like a siren," interrupted the younger Thompson sister, "can we do it AFTER we buy our food…?"

Half an hour later, Patty's expression was simply disgusted while she ate her fifth burrito in a row and watched Tsubaki cry on Liz's shoulder.

"I dunno what's so bad about it, though," said Liz while patting her indigo-eyed girl friend's head. "You two don't seem to be as into each other as you used to be… Right?"

"You've gotta be kidding me…" muttered the shorter-haired sister while she rolled her blue eyes.

"Hey, I'm trying to be of assistance here!" spat the longer-haired sister. "Maybe you should try helping out here!"

"Nah, I'm good," replied Patty while sipping on her soda. She looked away from the pathetic sight and noticed a silver-haired young man wearing a black suit checking his watch at the corner before he looked at Shibusen. The younger sister's eyes widened and she poked Liz's cheek. "Neh, hot guy at five o'clock."

"I can't think about that now, Patty!" scolded Liz, but not before eyeing the admittedly attractive male that was now departing the sister's field of view.

* * *

The man shook his head to move his silver bangs from his left eye before he walked towards that building that had so many memories of his youth. He knew what he had to do; he had to make sure the DWMA was prepared to receive the return of one of its most powerful Meisters ever, and Yamato smirked when he remembered it wouldn't be long until then…

* * *

**Finally done with this chapter! :DDDD sorry it took us so long, people... last three weeks were HELL... not to mention our apartment's owner is an ass... but that's none of your business, so I won't talk about it anymore XP**

**so yeah, who was that guy in the end~? you might've read it, but I still wanna hear from you guys~ why was he in Shibusen, and why the hell is Black Star still a virgin if he has three-plus girls after him?! I wanna hear your opinions and reactions to this chapter soon enough~!**

**~_Humbert_**


	10. Blonde's Nightmare and Raven's Paradise

Maka had already been in horror-movie-like scenarios before, but this one made the hairs in her nape stand while she walked alongside Dante with their weapons at hand in the abandoned building they were at. Dante, however, was whistling a tune while he spun Cerberus' nunchaku form around. The pair stopped in the end of the hall, where the building separated in two. Used to the ancient routine, Maka gripped her scythe more tightly while she took the left path, and Dante kept whistling while he put Cerberus away and took the right path. She didn't know why, but she felt more confident with Dante by her side; now that he was gone, Maka's hands started to tremble a little.

"Maka, calm down," said the scythe in her hands. "This guy ain't as scary as Asura was, and he's supposed to be only a half-pint!"

"I know, Soul," replied the pigtailed girl. "But I can't see this bastard anywhere, even with my Soul Perception…"

"So? We've dealt with worse, even before you awakened your Soul Perception!"

"Y-you're right; I can't let this wuss intimidate me!"

"That's the spirit!"

Now feeling more confident, Maka walked with a steadier pace and inspected every area of the building in search for the Kishin Egg they were looking for. The target was apparently too strong for any normal Weapon/Meister team to take on, so Kid and Spirit decided to send a Death Scythe team… and Dante's. However, the opponent they were facing was supposedly not strong enough to be considered a full-fledged Kishin yet. The place was uncomfortably dark, but it still had enough flickering lights every few meters for Maka and Dante to know where they were headed. A sound of a power generator rumbled every now and then in the building, keeping the pigtailed Meister on high alert at every moment. She wasn't exactly scared, but the fact that she AND Dante were needed was… disturbing.

Suddenly, the rancid smell of something Maka immediately recognized as putrefaction filled her nostrils and made her cover her mouth in surprise. Soul commented that they should find the source of the smell, since it might be a lead on their objective's whereabouts. Maka quickened her pace to find the source and, after about three minutes, she found the source of the smell and gasped when she saw it. It was a human corpse, though its limbs were wrapped around it like bondage, and the bones were shattered and splinters protruded the skin in different areas, leaving bloody stains wherever the dead person had clothes on. The sandy-haired Meister couldn't bear to keep looking at the mangled corpse anymore, and she quickly turned around while retching. Soul turned back into his human form to help his partner walk away from the scene, but he tripped over something else. When he looked at what impeded his movement, his foot had been grabbed by another decrepit corpse and was being dragged to the room. Soul started shouting and kicking at the hand that held him, but to no avail. Maka wasn't helping either; she was paralyzed in fear because she was looking at something approaching. Whatever it was, its silhouette was moving slowly towards her and she found herself unable to move away from it. She finally could see what the thing was when a light just over it exploded and let his face and features be seen for about an instant. He wore a green and red shirt and brown loose trousers that made his silhouette look bigger than he really was under the light, and a brown fedora that didn't help cover that hideous face of his, which had its skin burnt off, and his rotting teeth could be seen through another hole where his cheeks were supposed to be; his blue eyes were glazed with yellowish cataracts and the putrid smell intensified tenfold with each step the team's target took.

Maka could feel tears flowing down her cheeks, but her body still wouldn't budge an inch as the monster reduced the distance between himself and her. Soul's screams were heard at the other side of the room, as if his body was being pierced with a corpse's nails. The monster approached the girl and moved her chin up with his gloved hand's blades, smiling evilly as he did so…

In the meantime, Dante was still whistling as he checked every room in his side of the building. He remained unfazed as the random background noises increased in volume; he was getting closer to the sources. Rebellion, who was strapped firmly to the red-coated man's back, commented, "Is it just me, or the power generator in this dump has some serious issues?"

Nevan was the first to answer. "I can fix it if you want," she said.

Artemis spoke up next and replied, "You'd need to find the power generators and reboot them completely. For that, I wouldn't recommend you go alone…"

"Oh! Oh! I volunteer to go with Miss Nevan!" said Agni excitedly.

"I wanna go too!" concurred Rudra happily. "This place is creepy as hell!"

"Though we've been in hell and it was quite creepy, brother," replied Agni with a shudder.

"Well, yeah, but you know what I m—"

"Ah, shaddup and let's go…" interrupted Beowulf as he transformed back into his human form and extended his hands towards Dante, who immediately handed over Agni, Rudra, and Nevan to the eye-patch wearing man. Beowulf then ignited Agni's blade and, using it as a torch, walked away.

Rebellion muttered, "And there go our primary sources of light…"

"Yeah… didn't think of that…" replied Dante when he noticed that his surroundings were indeed darker than they thought. He started walking again after saying, "Well, whatever. Let's keep walking."

_'This is it…'_ Maka was thinking as she felt her energy being drained by her target. She never expected to go out like this, though. She'd braved through even Asura's Madness of Fear, but this guy was… something else. Her mission was supposed to be to eliminate all Kishin Eggs before they could become full-fledged demons, but if this guy wasn't still at max power, then may Death have mercy on this guy's victims when he reaches it…

Finally, Maka was completely surrounded by darkness.

"Hey, get your claws off her," said a voice that interrupted Maka's pre-mortem reverie. The beast that was staring into her eyes diverted his gaze to look at something that was right next to him, and Maka could feel some of her energy returning to her as the lights went back on. She moved her eyes to see who had said that, and she saw Dante aiming his shotgun straight at the man's face. Dante's smirk widened as he said, "I won't tell you a third time; get your _filthy fucking_ claws off my partner, Freddy."

"Sheesh, Dante, why the language?" asked Artemis while the white-haired hunter fired his weapon at the monster, who moved at an incredible speed to dodge the blast.

"He was killing her, in case you didn't notice," answered the red-clad man while firing a second, third, and fourth time at their target. "Prepare a Kablooey dart."

"Done; fire when ready," replied the silver gun. Dante, however, didn't immediately shoot. He kept unloading Revenant upon the monster, which was starting to move slower due to its decreasing stamina. As soon as he saw his opportunity, Dante immediately took out Artemis and fired the orange dart, which latched onto the opponent's left leg. The hunter then moved his hands to the holsters on his back to pull out his faster set of handguns before remembering…

"Goddammit, the girls aren't here!" Dante quickly pulled Revenant out and said, "Go help the kids; we might actually need some help on this one."

The shotgun transformed back into its human form and ran to where Maka lay, half-conscious and groaning slightly. He knelt beside her and patted her cheek a few times until she could finally open her eyes and focus on her surroundings.

"What happened…?" said the pigtailed Meister when she saw a flash of Dante battling the monster. "Where's Soul…?"

"I'm right here…" groaned her partner's voice, and Maka and Revenant turned to see Soul with his spiky white hair all messed up, and a few cuts and scrapes all across his legs and lower torso. His left arm had transformed into his scythe form's blade, and he didn't look exactly pleased to have gone under the experience of being attacked by whatever it was that attacked him. He tried to smile confidently at the green-eyed girl, but his wounds weren't as light as they seemed, and the white-haired boy only pulled out a grimace.

Dante looked back at his shotgun and smirked, knowing that the kids would recover. He turned his attention at his opponent, who at that very moment lunged to attack him. Dante dodged and pulled one of Artemis' triggers, detonating the orange dart that was trapped in his leg; he immediately pulled out Rebellion and started slashing at the group's target rapidly, heavily damaging the monster. He thrust his claymore into the monster and quickly pulled out Cerberus, with which the hunter started hitting the Kishin Egg that was now wailing in pain. Dante looked back and saw Maka holding her scythe tightly and concentrating, and he decided to cancel his combo by making his nunchaku freeze the target solid and moving aside.

"SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted Maka and Soul in unison as the scythe's blade started glowing with a bright white light. "This is the end: Warlock Hunter!" Soul transformed from a blinding white scythe to an ax that immediately sliced vertically down the monster's spine. "Your soul is ours!" As soon as the pigtailed Meister said that, the white line that was left on the target's body from the attack started shining intensely and the monster's body exploded, leaving behind a red soul and the bastard's dirty fedora.

Soul transformed back into his human form and stepped over to the Kishin Egg that floated feebly in the middle of the hallway and grabbed it. The rest of Dante's weapons had also transformed back to their standard forms, and they were smirking at the albino boy who was holding their target. Soul suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable and looked around. Maka was glaring at him with her arms crossed, as if telling him not to take that soul. Soul sighed and raised his arm, holding the red orb up high.

"Anyone want it?" he asked.

"Nah, you can take it, Soul," replied Rebellion with a smirk while he cleaned his glasses.

"You did finish the job, after all," added Artemis, who was imitating Rebellion.

"Yeah, but I already took plenty with the little bastards he sent after me," commented Soul with a shrug. He looked at the blue three-headed Husky and extended the soul to it. "Want it, mutt?"

One of Cerberus' heads started panting happily, while another growled lowly and the third looked at Dante, who chuckled and translated for Soul and Maka. "The pooch doesn't really like being called anything other than Cerberus—" All three of Cerberus' heads barked angrily at Dante. "I know," he told them before turning back to Soul. "Still, he does want it."

"Cool," said Soul before he threw the red orb at the dog, who happily jumped and started munching it down with its three heads. Soul laughed at the dog's behavior and said, "Guess I'm not the only soul eater, huh?"

"Did we miss something?" suddenly called out a boy's voice.

"Oh, no…" muttered Maka.

"Apparently so, brother," replied another's voice. "I knew we should've stayed with Dante!"

"You volunteered to go with Miss Nevan, Rudra!" replied Agni, irritated. The remainder of Dante's weapons turned around the corner and saw the rest of the group staring at them. Agni shrugged and looked at his brother before saying, "Look at that, Rudra; now everyone's staring at us!"

"Hey, that's not my fault!" replied the blue-haired scimitar, annoyed. "You're the one with the loud voice here, Agni!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Shaddup!"

"YOU shaddup!"

Before the boys could start quarrelling again, Artemis appeared behind them and smacked them into each other, knocking them both unconscious. Revenant sighed and picked the boys up and carried them. Maka and Soul chuckled a little before the Meister suddenly lost her balance, making her lean on her partner. Dante noticed the little incident.

"You okay, kiddo?" asked the older white-haired man to the pigtailed girl.

Maka, who was being supported by Soul, groaned a little before replying. "Y-yeah… That bastard was trying to suck my soul out…"

"He WHAT?!" asked Soul, whose red eyes widened immediately. He started shaking his partner back and forth and put his hear against her chest, as if he was trying to hear her soul rattling in her slim body. Maka grew an extra vein in her temple—something that usually happened whenever she got pissed—and pulled a book from out of nowhere before smashing its spine into her weapon's skull. "Well, it failed on sucking that bit off her…" muttered Soul while he was rubbing his throbbing head.

"Wait, I thought you guys had that Soul Perception thingy?" asked Artemis, who saw the event and was now scratching her head in confusion while she and the rest of the group started walking out of the building.

"Only Meisters have Soul Perception, Artemis," answered Maka. "Some weapons can acquire the ability, but only through a Soul Resonance, and only during the Resonance. This idiot, however…" The green-eyed girl looked at her partner, who glared back at her with his hands covering his head.

"Hey, I may not see souls, but I can make your Perception range extend with our Resonance, remember?" said the red-eyed weapon. "And no need to call me an idiot!"

"Why call a rock by any other name?" snapped Maka with a sour tone, and Artemis chuckled lowly.

* * *

Tsubaki wasn't sure about whether to throw her partner out the window, or his phone. Black Star was still talking to either of Dante's guns through the phone, something he'd been doing since three in the afternoon, when the trio had separated. Ebony had written her phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to the blue-haired boy with a wink that was simultaneous to Ivory's. Tsubaki had arrived to her apartment after talking with Liz and Patty, and she found her Meister rummaging under the futon's cushions until he pulled out his phone, which he seldom used except for talking to his partner, or his close friends. The raven-haired girl didn't know how, but the weapon sisters quickly found their way into Black Star's contact list, which wasn't exactly something that pleased her.

Tsubaki sighed for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, and Black Star looked around until he found her. He smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up, oblivious to the fact that that sign wasn't exactly appropriate for that situation. The indigo-eyed girl forced a smile at her partner, but she wasn't feeling too well after all, and Black Star noticed. He quickly dismissed himself from the call and hung up the phone before walking towards her.

"You okay, Tsubaki?" asked the hotheaded young man.

"Y-yeah," lied the Demon Arm, forcing another smile.

The blue-haired boy raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms while saying, "C'mon, Tsubaki, d'you really think I don't know you well enough to know when you're not okay?" The busty girl's cheeks reddened a bit, and the assassin continued. "Tell me, what's wrong? If someone's bothering you, I'll beat the crap outta them!" He punched his open palm and cracked his knuckles with a smirk.

"B-Black Star… what do you like about those girls?" Tsubaki asked, sounding a little more serious.

"What? Whaddaya mean?" asked the assassin, confused.

"Ebony and Ivory!" said the weapon girl while holding her arm. "D-do you l-like them…?"

"Of course I like them," replied Black Star with a smile, "they're my friends!"

"O-oh…" Tsubaki felt slightly more relieved, and her chest started pounding a little faster. There were, however, a few questions that remained in her brain. "Do you—I mean, are you interested in either of them… you know… um…"

"I'll pretend I know what you mean and say no," replied Black Star with his eyebrow raised and a slightly amused expression.

"If you'd let me finish, I'd've probably told you what I meant," commented the raven-haired girl with a little giggle that dissipated quickly. "Black Star… A-are you planning on leaving me to become their partner…?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" asked the green-eyed boy as he crossed his arms. "They're already with that moron Dante, and they often talk about him. It's kind of annoying, you know…"

"R-really…?" the Demon Arm's indigo eyes lit up when she heard that, and she looked at Black Star.

"What, you thought I was gonna leave you just because they're my new friends?" asked the assassin, now slightly worried. When the girl in front of him looked down silently, he walked towards her and pulled her close to him, embracing her and patting her head. Tsubaki, who stood two or three inches shorter than her partner after the latter finally hit his growth spurt, blushed madly and looked up at the boy. "I'd never leave you for new friends, Tsu-chan," he reassured her while hugging her. "You're my soul mate, remember?"

_'Oh. My. God,'_ thought Tsubaki to herself while her heart started pounding in her chest, which felt like it was about to explode. _'Did he just say we're… S-S-SOUL MATES?!'_

"Well, since it seems you were bored all this time," continued Black Star after a few seconds of silence, "how about we watch that series I told you about? That way you'll be as awesome as me 'cause we watch the same stuff!"

"U-uh, sure," stammered the weapon girl, who was still stunned.

"Awesome! I'll put Netflix on, then! YAHOO!"

* * *

**Sorry it took us so damn long to write this one, people! DX Hell week happened and College hit its difficulty spike and neither Klaus nor I could do anything about this chapter until like last week... **

**still, we're ready and waiting for our next round of exams but not without this chapter to cheer you readers up~~! :3**

**So! Maka and Dante's teams had a lotta terrible and terrific terror fun~! XDD and Tsubaki's living in a dream right now, apparently~ teehee~~ what will happen next? Do you think a battle might erupt for Black Star's heart~? Or maybe a foursome~~? XDDDD**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter~~~! :DDDD**

_**~Humbert**_

**As some of you may have noticed, the rating has been raised to Mature. Obviously we wouldn't raise it from Teen for idiotic reasons like language (what kinda teen hasn't said at least one "shit" in their life?), so you might have an idea of what might happen later in the series! Enjoy.**

_**-Klaus**_


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